Turnabout Pirates
by Charlett
Summary: A woman is found, murdered, in an alleyway on No Name Island. But when the finger is pointed at Zoro and people begin to sharpen their pitchforks, a rather... strange attorney is called to get him acquitted.
1. Day 1: Investigation

Alright... where to start...? Alright, here we go:

I... LOVE... Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. You really, REALLY need to play the game to notice the greatness. So go out and check it. My friends haven't really played it, although some have been asking me about it. So... to be able to tie Phoenix into a more... well known cache among my friends, this story flew into my mind. Now my OP friends can learn the greatness that is Phoenix Wright! Alright, here's some stuff you may need to know:

MangaLand is a world created by Fangirls and Fanboys who love the anime, manga, and video games they read, watch, and play, respectively. These Earthlings can create items with their minds, and so the greatest worked together to create entire worlds based off of anime and manga. However, when a Fangirl of the Fangirl Order (Think of them as "Fangirl Police") is murdered, and the finger is pointed at Zoro, it's up to an actual attorney to save him! But really, can a man of the law defense a bunch of outlaws? DUNDUNDUN!

Sit back, relax, and read. You may end up liking the idiocy of it all. HEY, I said you MAY... And you can't object to THAT.

So, without further ado: READ ON!

PS: Something you may wanna know: The name "Turnabout Pirates" is a play on the original Japanese name of Phoenix Wright. It translates to "Turnabout Courtroom". The theme is that every one of the cases in the courtroom has "Turnabout" in the name. It's just tradition, you see.

---

The First Mate of the Straw Hat Pirate Crew, Roronoa Zoro, whirled around, his hand on his Katana. The cook, Sanji, turned to the man next to him, his arms heaped with grocery bags, "What is it, Marimo?"

"I… heard a scream…" Zoro replied, too busy being on guard to roar at his shipmate. At night, in an alleyway, it was much better to keep his wits about him at the moment, "Is there… someone out there?" Sanji blinked at the swordsman, and suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck reared up when the two of them heard a terrified scream.

"Th… that's a woman!" Sanji cried incredulously, "My Lady! Please, hold on!" Zoro gave a warning shout as the cook rushed towards the sound.

"You MORON! Get back here!" The swordsman was after him like a shot, following close behind only because of the cook's soggy shoes struck the puddles that accumulated from the rain only moments before. The sound helped him keep his position until it stopped. The first mate stepped forward and blinked at Sanji, who was moaning by the body of a young woman who was stabbed through the chest by a katana, which was lying on the ground next to her.

"Z… Zoro!" Sanji whirled towards the swordsman, who reached down to pick up the bloodied katana with his left hand, "We… were too late…! Oh, the poor woman, if only I were here a second earlier, I could have…"

"KYAAAAAAA!" The two looked up, and Zoro's eyes widened, dropping the katana, when the two saw a young, beautiful woman staring them down, "You… Z… Zoro, you didn't!"

The men couldn't believe it; it was Sakura Tenshi…

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 1: Investigation

**January 17, 12:00  
Wright & Co. Law Offices**

My name is Phoenix Wright, a defense attorney, owner of the law offices of "Wright & Co.". Well, really, it's more like, "Wright & No One Else". It kinda gets lonely when your late boss, Mia Fey, gets murdered in her office, and then your first partner, Maya Fey (Mia's sister), leaves to train her psychic senses. Perhaps that's why I took a vacation after that Lana Skye incident… It's been… nearly a year now? My, the time simply flies…

My office hadn't changed much since I left it, aside from the thick layer of dust that settled on everything I owned. Oh, and the bills that have piled up from lack of money. There's almost nothing in my bank account… perhaps I should start looking for some cases… but after being gone so long; would anyone ever remember I was alive? Either way… That day was obviously slow as I went into my office to start fixing up some lunch, but it quickly turned into a rather… exciting day, when I finally got myself another job. Heh, believe me, it was the strangest case I'd gotten so far…

"Excuse me!" The shout was probably loud enough to make ears bleed; thank goodness I was on the other side of the door to my office. Quickly grabbing the remote, I had to mute the recently turned on television (which was proudly displaying "Pink Princess", Maya's favorite show I really didn't have the heart to stop watching it after she left. It always reminded me of her eccentric attitude), and looked up from my lunch (Microwave Ramen. I can't afford much else, you see). The doorknob was twitching violently, like some really suspenseful (and lame) horror flick. The person on the other side finally got it to work by the time I set my ramen on the coffee table and stood up.

After adjusting my tie, I hopped over towards my dusty desk (I really should be at it more often, but with the work, or lack thereof, that I have…) and brought one of Mia's law books down from its resting place on the shelf. There was a rule I had learned from Ema Skye a while back: always look like you know what you're doing to make a good impression.

It was then that two people entered my office. One of them was a young boy wearing a straw hat, and another was a teenage woman with orange hair. The boy didn't seem to notice my presence, as he was looking around the room, and suddenly looked at the woman, "Hey, you think anyone's eating that ramen?" He asked, pointing at my lunch on the table.

The woman was understandably angered, and she slammed her hand on the man's head, "You moron! It belongs to HIM!" At least someone noticed me! Taking this time to look nice, I clasped the now open law book closed, and turned to speak to the two people (Mostly to tell them "Sorry, but I'm not taking cases now").

"OHHHHH!" The boy shouted. Now that there wasn't a door separating the two of us, I now had evidence that it was loud enough to make ears bleed. I cringed at the loud proclamation, and the thick law book slipped from my hand…

"YEOOOOW!" The woman watched and the man laughed as I grasped my foot, dropping quickly into my office chair to nurse it back to health. I knew those books were dangerous. First they mocked me, now they declared open war!

"Um… Sir…?" The orange haired teen asked, approaching the desk as I continued rubbing my foot, "Are you… Phoenix Wright, a defense attorney?"

"Ahhh, yes…" I sucked in a deep breath, and placed my foot tenderly on the ground. The plush carpet was enough to make it hurt less, "That's… my name, but unfortunately…"

Before I could say "I'm not taking cases at the moment", I was nearly assaulted by the man in the straw hat. If he was even an inch closer he would have rammed his head into mine and there would be grounds to have him sued, (You know, if I were that kind of guy), "YOU'RE the great defender guy who saves innocent people!"

"There have been rumors that you haven't lost a case you entered…" The woman said, smiling, "Well, Wright-San, is that so?"

"Wright-San…?" I asked, blinking, "Well, yes… but my record isn't unblemished," I trailed off after speaking; thinking of how many times the judge nearly had me indicted with Contempt of Court.

"It doesn't matter!" That straw hat man said in a determined voice, reminding me of Detective Dick Gumshoe, one of my… friends, you could say, "You're going to be my friend's defense at-er-ny and get him off the hook!"

"I never said I would!" I said indignantly, "You can't just tell me what to do; I have a life of my own! Besides…" I suddenly had the undeniable urge to stare at my wounded foot, rather than at these young people who looked like they needed help, "I… I'm not taking cases right now…"

"O… oh…" Was their only reply, and although I wasn't looking at them, I could feel in my gut that they looked depressed now, "You… you're joking, right?" The woman asked, in disbelief of my claim, "We were told you were the best, and our friend deserves only the best…"

"We can pay!" The determined man slammed his fists on my desk, sending particles of dust into the air. It was a rather tough slam, tough enough to deal… good damage… Needless to say, I was getting quite intimidated… "We can pay whatever you want! We have lots! Lots of gold!"

I couldn't help but suck in a breath. Why would these kids have "lots of gold", anyway? They didn't seem like they were that rich; although the woman seemed… well off. My inquisitive side took a hold of me and I looked up, "Gold? What are you talking about?"

The boy sucked in a deep breath, puffing himself up pridefully, "My name is Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Mugiwara Kaizokudan!"

The woman slammed her hand on her forehead, and there was silence for a moment, "The Mukiwhat?"

"Luffy means to say," The female teenager explained, "We are members of the Straw hat Pirates. My name is Nami," She extended her hand in an attempt to shake mine, "Pleased to meet your acquaintance."

Silence again. I was too busy thinking that the name sounded familiar… And then, it hit me. She said they were… "PIRATES?" I instinctively dug my heels into the floor, which caused my wheeling chair to rocket backwards, and I slammed into Mia's law bookshelf. That hurt. I looked at the two, sizing them up. That Luffy man was breaking apart my desk when he was determined. I was never… the most physically active of my peers, I wondered if this kid could break me apart like a twig if angered. I gulped, and attempted to sound tougher than I really was (Like a cat, rearing its back up to hiss at a dog), "What… are you doing HERE, anyway?"

"What does it look like?" Luffy asked, as if it were obvious. He put his hands on his hips, "We need a defense attorney to prove my friend's innocence!"

"You see, Wright-San," Nami replied, looking rather solemn, "You understand our profession, and the… way most of our… colleagues work… I assure you that none of the Mugi… Straw Hat Pirates are murderers, but now our first mate, Roronoa Zoro, is being charged with a crime of murder."

"And Zoro doesn't kill people!" Luffy said, as determined as usual, practically breaking my desk apart as he brought his fist down on it again. After that, he thought for a moment, and nodded, "Except for when he does, but that doesn't mean a thing!" I would have gotten even more scared at that statement, but I really wasn't listening. I was too busy waiting for them to ransack my office of wealth and ramen, and leave to pillage another town… or office, either one.

"Well, Wright-San?" Nami asked (Again with that "Wright-San" thing… why did it make my stomach twist when I heard her say it…?) "Can you help us?"

"I…" I furrowed my brow ("It was now or never!" I thought to myself. "Who did these pirates think they were, anyway, the center of the universe?"), "I don't help pirates like you! Why should I, anyway? How did you even get here? This isn't even a port town!"

Luffy blinked, and suddenly burst into laughter, "Yeah, that's the funny thing!"

"We're visiting this town specially, for you, you know," Nami replied as Luffy continued to howl with laughter, "We don't sail the waters of your world, you see…" The female pirate leaned across my desk, as if attempting to show off her cleavage (At such a young age? Really, such a scandal!), "We come from another world… the world…

"…Of One Piece…" Really, if silence WAS deafening, this third time I'd have never been able to hear again.

"One, world, piece of what?" I rubbed the earwax from my ear, because I DEFINITELY heard something wrong, "What are you talking about?"

"He doesn't know about MangaLand, Nami," Luffy whispered to the woman, although I could plainly hear him speaking, "What do we do? Can we just take him with us?"

"No, Luffy, we're trying to do this by the MangaLandian book, for once," Nami sighed, shaking her head. I guess she noticed that I was about ready to wet myself and pass out. Really, how do you fight back against pirates, anyway? Especially ones that looked like children? "Wright-San, this may come as a shock to you, but I think it's about time you learned the truth. You see…

"…You don't live in a world all by itself. Your world is just a member of a series of parallel worlds, all connected but hard to move between. These worlds, all together, are called MangaLand. There are still debates over our creation, but many people seem to have agreed that we've been created by Fangirls and Fanboys, men and women from a planet called Earth."

It took me all my strength not to shout "Objection!" right there, "That can't be true!" I managed to blurt out, "THIS is Earth!" Luffy continued to laugh, as if this was the funniest comedy he had seen.

"True, you call this… 'Earth'…" Nami replied. She seemed to be choosing her words very carefully, "But really, it's… an alternate Earth from the Fangirl's Earth."

"Which makes you a MangaLandian Earthling!" Luffy proclaimed, looking excited ("Although", I thought to myself, "He does SEEM the type to get excited easily."), "I had heard about stuff like that from Saiyako, but I didn't know they existed! It's like a totally new species of human!"

"Luffy, please…" Nami murmured, although a smile was playing on her lips, "Wright-San, there are precious few other things that you NEED to know about MangaLand, except that we can take you back home with us to be our first mate's defense attorney. However…" She looked away, sadness playing at her eyes, "You… aren't taking jobs, you said…"

I looked first at the straw hat man, Luffy, and then to that young woman, Nami. They looked so… sad… Where had I seen that face? Oh… Yeah… "Ema… Maya…" I sighed deeply, running my hand deeply through my spiky hair (Just the way I like it…), and looked Luffy dead in the eye, "So, after I'm done with my job, you'll pay me your gold and you'll take me back here, then?"

Luffy looked up at me, his eyes brightening from my small gesture, "Yeah! Anything! As long as you get my first mate off the hook, I'll give you anything!"

"Not ANYTHING, you moron!" Nami shouted, slamming her fist on her captain's head, "The last thing we need is for him to take the Going Merry!" I laughed aloud. For pirates… these two were pretty decent.

"So," I said, rolling my chair up to my desk and folding my hands upon it, "While we head to where ever you guys 'live', you can explain everything to me, alright?"

"Of course," Nami said, nodding a bit as I stood (and winced from my foot, which seemed to still be growling at me for letting it be attacked by that book) up from my chair. The woman pulled a vial from a pocket she had (Seeing the vial in her hands… made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Oh well, it matched the rest of my hair, now…), and uncorked it, preparing to spread the contents (Sand, it appeared to be), on the floor. ("Oh well…" I thought.) The dust upon the ground began to glow ("Seems like I have some vacuuming to do when I get back home. When are they going to invent robots to do this sort of stuff for us, anyway?"). It was then that my thoughts were cut off. The glowing dust suddenly filled the room with light, and I couldn't see a thing…

---

I gave a "Gack!" noise the next moment I could see. There was a giant ram head in front of me! The next moment, I noticed that it was a figurehead, connected to a rather small ship before me. What are they called? Carnivals? ("Gahhh!" I cried to myself as I began to sweat, "I can't think of the name! Oh well… I'm PRETTY sure it began with a 'C'!")

"Welcome, Wright-San, to the Going Merry Go!" Nami proclaimed, drawing her arm in a flourish to present the ship in a favorable light. Her smile… reminded me of someone… "This is our ship. We use it when traveling across the Grand Line." Before I could ask what the "Grand Line" was, she explained, "The Grand Line is the greatest of the Five Seas in our world. Is it true that your world ("It's Earth!" I wanted to cry.) has seven seas?"

"Uh… Yeah…" I muttered, rubbing the back of my head, "But I've kinda forgotten the names a few of the more obscure ones." Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks, and I started sweating bullets, "WAIT! You don't ACTUALLY mean we're not on Earth anymore?" I nearly fainted right off the bat. I just thought these kids had overactive imaginations!

Before there was an answer, there was a shout of excitement, "Nami-SAAAAAAAN!" I gave a cry as a blue and yellow blur shoved past me, nearly making me lose my balance as the new man gracefully grabbed Nami's hand, "I'm so glad you have returned! Let me make a wonderful lunch for you and Robin-Chan!"

"Thank you, Sanji-Kun, but no thank you," Nami replied, "We have a little more important stuff to worry about. Oh!" She directed the man's attention to me as I dusted myself off, "This is Zoro's defense attorney. His name is Phoenix, Phoenix Wright."

The man looked up from Nami, and his attitude changed completely. I could swear in a court of law that the temperature dropped a few degrees when he gave me that look. Lighting up a cigarette, he started puffing for a moment, and looked at me, "Doesn't look all that special…" He muttered.

"Sanji," Luffy said, "He's a MangaLandian Earthling! I never thought they existed!"

"The name's Sanji…" The man said, offering me his hand, which I took with my own. The face he gave me showed off that he knew my hand was getting clammy, and I sweated even more… "I'm the cook for the Mugiwara Kaizokudan. Nice to meet you."

"Well…" I began, thinking for a moment after the greetings were exchanged, "Perhaps it's best you tell me what was going on that day. Do you guys know anything?"

The captain and woman pointed at the cook, "Sanji was with Zoro on the night of the murder yesterday. If anyone knows anything besides the first mate, it's him." I feared dehydration from the buckets of sweat I was producing. Why did I always have to get the witnesses who seemed to hate my guts for no apparent reason?

"Well…" Sanji murmured, stroking the fluff on his chin in thought, "That night was wet and rainy; I had just finished the shopping for the Going Merry's food supply. As I headed towards the docks, a Fangirl who seems to think that Zoro and I were cute together shoved me conspicuously towards him. We decided, to keep ourselves from being shoved anymore than needed, to walk back to the Merry Go together. We spoke not a word that night, because usually we end up fighting during a normal conversation. That was when I heard it."

"Heard what?" I asked, eyebrows furrowing in question ("Something seems weird…" I thought to myself). Sanji continued:

"It was a scream. I high pitched, feminine scream. Hearing such a cry made me kick into high gear ("He likes women, you see," Nami explained for me), and I rushed to the scene. There, on the ground, was a woman. She appeared to have been stabbed straight through by a Katana. You know, they're those swords that curve a bit."

"Yeah, Samurai use them," I said, nodding.

There was silence for a moment as Sanji took a drag of his cigarette, "Whatever Samurai are… anyway, there was a Katana lying next to the woman, on the floor. It was then that a Mary Sue saw us, and accused Zoro of…"

"Hold it!" I said, putting my hands on my hips, looking right confused, "Wha… a Mary Sue?"

"He doesn't know what a Mary Sue is, Nami!" Luffy said, stifling a chuckle. Yeah, it was funny alright… not…

"You can't explain it to Attorney-San, Captain-San?" Another voice asked. It came from the ship itself. We all looked up, and saw a woman, leaning against the banister. She waved a bit in my direction, "Good afternoon, Attorney-San…"

"Robin-Chan!" Sanji proclaimed happily, waving at her from where we stood, "You could tell Wright about Mary Sues, can't you?"

"I could… try…" Robin replied, smiling a bit in my direction. She was the scariest of the bunch… That small smile reminded me of Prosecuting Attorney Miles Edgeworth. He was my… former rival, and an old friend… It was a smile that showed that she knew what she was doing. It was scary… but thinking of Edgeworth, someone I recognized, eased my fear of this new place. Just a bit.

"A Mary Sue is a human, just like you and me, that was created by a Fangirl or a Fanboy," Robin explained, "Fangirls who come here from Earth have strange abilities to create items through their mind. Sometimes, some people have the imagination to create humans. These are Mary Sues."

"So she's human then? This Mary Sue? That's not her name, is it?"

"No…" Another voice. Someone was walking down the plank onto the dock. It was a man who carried a dark aura, one that made me want to shout "HE DID IT!" At his side… were three Katana, and he had three gold earrings on one of his ears, "Her name… is Sakura Tenshi…"

"Zoro!" Luffy cried happily, "They let you stay here at the ship?"

"Bail wasn't that hard to make with the gold we got from Skypiea," Zoro explained, and I felt like dropping to the ground. THIS man is the one who is supposed to be innocent? He looks like JUST the man who would kill in cold blood! This was going to be the hardest case I've ever taken…

"Anyway, about this Sakura Tenshi, could you tell me more about her?"

"Not much about her involvement in the murder," Zoro replied, shaking his head. He then looked a little sick himself (He must look the way I do now…), "She's absolutely convinced that the two of us are supposed to be together. She says it's destiny…"

"Destiny…" I murmured under my breath. Something seemed… strange…

"Which is why I'm wondering what's going on," Nami said, placing her hands on her hips, "If she's so hung up on Zoro, why would she ever try and get him convicted in a Fangirl Court?"

"Maybe…" Something flashed through my mind. Something… I shook my head, "Nothing. Sometimes it's best to go investigating to find out what I can before the trial tomorrow. Could… someone take me to… the murder scene?"

"We can!" Yet more voices. Jeez, I know there's supposed to be lots of pirates on one crew, but how am I supposed to keep remember all of the characters? This time, there were two people who were speaking. One was a tanned, long nosed boy, and the other was…

"A Deer?" I exclaimed.

"MORON!" The deer shouted, "I'm a REINDEER!"

"That's even MORE weird!" Was my reply, ("And it TALKS, no less!" I moaned to myself). Different worlds… yield unknown things… I guess…

"Chopper, Usopp! You're going to take Nick to the scene?" Luffy asked, "Alright then, you have fun, and take good care of him!"

"Nami-San, if I may," Sanji said, taking the orange haired woman's hand and leading her back onto the ship as the two… strange… pirates came to join me (I was sweating even MORE, now…), "Let's get you a nice lunch while the noose tightens around that Marimo's neck."

"You won't get to watch ANYTHING when I slit your throat, pretty boy!" Zoro growled as the rest went to go eat Sanji's lunch. I tried to swallow the lump that appeared in my throat, but it held fast. There was no way I could defend a man when he was threatening the very thing he was supposed to be innocent of…

---

**January 17, 12:53  
1342 Wrong Way St.  
Back Alleyway**

"There's too much…" I murmured as I stared intently at the crime scene, "There's too much blood…"

"What are you talking about, Nick?" Usopp said (already he was talking to me like we knew each other forever), "There's just enough for a body."

"No there isn't," I said, rather forcefully, "The human body has several pints of blood in it (Although, please don't ask me how much exactly, I'm not a doctor…). This is like, a couple of gallons, at least!"

"Perhaps in our world, our bodies have more blood in them!" Chopper said, thinking about such a revelation ("Isn't he the doctor? Shouldn't he KNOW?" I asked myself with a sigh.).

"Hey hey! Move it along, Pals! Nothing to see here!" I heard someone call to us. However, once I heard the word "Pals", my whole mood brightened. Finally, I found a silver lining in this stupid cloud.

"Gumshoe!" I proclaimed, a little more excitedly than I should have. I turned around, and smiled at the trench coat wearing detective that stood before me. I really wasn't in the mood to ask WHY he was here. Just seeing him made me feel slightly giddy.

"You know him, Nick?" Chopper asked, looking confused, "I didn't think you'd know anything about the people in this world!"

"That's because Detective Gumshoe isn't from your world. He's a detective of the police from Earth!" I said (although I'm sure they all assumed I meant "My world"). It was then that I pointed at him in question, "But wait, why are you here, anyway?"

"I guess we could ask the same thing of you, Mr. Wright…" I blinked, and turned to the side. There, next to Gumshoe, was that man in the tuxedo, with that weird frill collar ("What were they called again…?" I wondered to myself). Anyway, it was, by no doubt in my mind, Miles Edgeworth, "I thought you were busy traveling? Perhaps you fell in a wormhole? Or maybe this is all a dream?"

"Come on, Edgeworth," I replied, "You know as well as I this isn't a dream (Although I wouldn't mind if it WAS…). But why are you here? Surely you aren't…"

"We're in investigations, you see…" Edgeworth answered, "I told you, I'm not going back into prosecution. However, if I hear what I THINK I may hear, I might want to get back in…"

"Uhhh, yeah…" I began to chuckle as I handed over Zoro's letter of recommendation, "His… captain asked me…"

Edgeworth looked condescending, as usual. He crossed his arms and puffed up his chest as Gumshoe read off the letter, "Yup, that's what it says. You're that Roronoa guy's attorney, then?"

"I should have known…" Edgeworth drummed his fingers on the side of his arm, looking at me disdainfully, "You are truly a fool. You and I… we both decided to be against criminals from the beginning, and now LOOK at you!" He pointed at Usopp and Chopper dramatically. They puffed themselves up to look a little threatening, "You're defending PIRATES! Outlaws of the sea! CRIMINIALS!"

"Edgeworth…" I knew this was going to get us nowhere… Edgeworth was always like this. Hatred of anything against the law was his trademark. He got it from his late father… I sighed, and slumped my shoulders down a bit, my next reply barely escaping my lips, "But they don't murder…"

"W…What…?" Edgeworth asked. He glared straight at me, as if attempting to peer into my (probably already blackening) soul, "Pirates…? Not… murderers…? What did you read when you were twelve, silly stories of romance and adventure on the high seas? That's NOT what the real world is like, Wright!"

"HOLD IT!" I shouted, pointing at the crime scene, "Can you honestly look at the talking reindeer on my right and tell me this is like our world, as well?"

"Pirates are pirates, no matter what world you live in!"

"I refute that testimony!" I shouted, pointing straight at him. It kinda made me think that we were back in court, which was why I may have done things… overdramatically: "Those 'silly stories' people read when they were twelve are a world! You can't simply regard a person as 'evil' just because he wants to live life romantically with adventure on the high seas!" Usopp and Chopper clapped a bit on the side of me. They seemed happy with my talk. I guess I won their attention as an attorney…

"You…" Edgeworth crossed his arms, and then rolled his eyes, a first for him. It was probably because I was acting… a bit childish… "Are a moron… but nevertheless, you always did have the strange ability to drag the truth out of a case. I say to you," Now the finger went to me, "Win or lose, you'd better find the TRUTH of the incident!"

I nodded, "I promise you, Edgeworth, Gumshoe. I will find out the truth, and if it turns out Zoro did murder that woman…"

"Hey!" Usopp cried, looking at me with a surprised look, "You're supposed to get him acquitted, Nick!"

"It's true that's what I want…" I replied (Especially if I want to get paid!), "But I'm not going to let him off the hook if he really did murder someone. I… don't do things that way."

"Well spoken, Wright," Edgeworth replied, nodding, "Perhaps there's hope for your decaying soul yet… Anyway, we're here under the request of the Fangirl Order."

"Wouldn't you believe it, Pal?" Gumshoe asked, chuckling a bit, "Apparently some of those Fangirls are saying I'm the best Detective on the force! So of course, I had to ask Edgeworth to come along. 'Perhaps he'd be helpful on the investigation!' I said. So here we are, Pal!"

"Well then, the thing we need most is the autopsy report," I said, still not exactly sure why Edgeworth HAD to come along, "I need to know exactly why this woman died, and who she was."

"Her nickname was 'Lady Fussbudget', apparently," Edgeworth said as Gumshoe patted himself down, looking for the report, "But her real name was 'Imra Bid'. She had, according to the witness, been stalking Zoro for quite some time last night." ("The witness" I thought, "Yeah, that's Sakura Tenshi or whatever…")

"Thanks, Gumshoe," I replied as the report was handed over. I quickly checked it over. Imra's time of death was 11:32 PM… Died of blood loss due to impalement by katana through heart… Only one stab wound… "Ahh yes, the murder weapon. Is there any chance…?"

"Hey, Pal!" Gumshoe shouted angrily, "You can't just waltz around and expect me to tell you anything about the evidence, being the defense attorney and all! Besides, you can't see it either way, because it was sent to forensics to test the blood on it. It's probably from the victim!" I smirked a bit. Gumshoe was the only detective I knew who had loose lips simply from being forgetful of what was supposed to be kept secret.

"Anyway… Perhaps it's time to tell you who you're up against," Edgeworth said, looking angry at Gumshoe. If he was still a prosecutor, most likely he would have docked the detective's pay, "Her name is…

"…Tashigi…"

"WHAT?" Usopp and Chopper exclaimed. I looked at them, and they explained, "Tashigi is Zoro's rival! She's a Marine ("A police officer, then," I thought as they continued) who intends to defeat Zoro and take his three Katana!"

"But why is she the prosecuting attorney?" I asked as I stored the autopsy away (And why take Katana? Are they worth a lot?), "I mean, unless that's what she usually does…"

Edgeworth shook his head, "The Marines do not do well with trials. Most of the time there is no defense attorney, and nearly every sentence is death," He looked away angrily, "It is truly an atrocity, slandering the name of Law and Justice."

"Edgeworth…" I began, and then cut myself off ("Best not to open old wounds," I thought to myself), "So, is she skilled?"

"Actually," Edgeworth replied, puffing himself up and smiling a bit, "There's the loophole. Because these morons don't know the first thing about trials, none of their 'prosecutors' know anything 'by the book'. The only reason Tashigi is the prosecuting attorney is because she is most knowledgeable about the law of the Fangirl Order's courts. Of course, by 'most knowledgeable', I mean, 'has read only one book on the subject'."

I began to smirk, despite myself. Perhaps there was a chance for this case after all. If this Tashigi lady didn't know how a courtroom was run, they I may have already won… Hey, that kinda rhymed! "Now then, Wright," Edgeworth said, crossing his arms again. His disdainful frown showed me that he knew what I was thinking, "You can't get cocky. No matter how inexperienced a person is, if the evidence…"

"I know…" I said, "All I have is that there's too much blood here for a normal person to bleed…"

"Hey, Pal!" Gumshoe interrupted, smiling a bit, "That's what I was thinking!"

"Great…" I replied, "I need a written testimony of that, actually. If you don't mind and all."

"Loading your slingshot, Nick?" Usopp asked as Gumshoe started jotting something down on his notepad. I sweated a bit.

"Yeah, my slingshot…" I replied. This was all the ammo I had, and I would need to be able to use it to the best of its abilities. After the testimony was handed to me, I began to think, "So… is there something I've missed?"

"There is one other thing that you must remember, Wright," Edgeworth said, "It was raining from 10:45 to 11:27, five minutes before the murder. These potholes in the ground here were filled with water. Here's a testimony from a strange Mary Sue who can tell when there was weather about."

"A… Mary Sue that can detect weather?" I asked, sweating a bit. I took the testimony and read it over, "I guess they aren't all as bad as Sakura Tenshi and Ch…" I stopped. Something nearly slipped out of my mouth…

"Nick?" Chopper asked, "Something wrong?"

"N… Nothing…" I said ("I can't even remember what I was going to say…" I thought that moment), "Anyway, this is about the only bit of evidence we can come up with. I just hope it'll help us out of this jam… If Zoro's innocent, I'll get him off the hook, I swear it!"

"Hurray!" The two pirates shouted. Gumshoe laughed aloud, but Edgeworth crossed his arms and looked away…

…

To Be Continued…

---

Alright... Flame me if you will. It's a terrible crossover, I know. You may now shoot me.   
No prosecutor in the world could find you guilty.  
If you actually LIKE it for some reason... Then don't flame, please...


	2. Day 2: Trial Morning

Boo! Alright, here we are. PLEASE, don't kill me! This is probably the first time I have written a real mystery story. Hopefully you guys'll kinda not hate it or something. Also, this is one of my first "First Person Perspective" stories, as well. I personally think I did a good job with that. Also, PS. The story will slightly spoil a few things in Phoenix Wright's third adventure, Gyakuten Saiben 3. Nothing that will like, spoil the ENDING or anything, but some people go insane about stuff like that. Weird... Anyway...

READ ON! and all that jazz.

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 2: Trial; Morning

**January 18, 5:46  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Defendant Lobby No. 2**

Zoro yawned and stared at me, his eyes half banked from lack of sleep, "Bloody Fangirls. Can't they hold a trial at a NORMAL hour of the day?"

I began to chuckle, "What, you mean three in the afternoon?"

"Much better," Zoro said, and I sweat from the fact that he was serious.

"NICK!" I nearly fell over when Usopp and Chopper barreled into me, "Hey, Nick, you're going to do great out there! Take them DOWN, Nick!"

"I… I'll do my best…" I replied as the other people from that Merry ship came to see me off (It's the best I can do… after all…), "Alright, wish us luck, everyone!"

"GOOD LUCK, NICK!" Luffy shouted, and I began to twitch from the shouting. If I was ever about to fall asleep before this trial, that certainly woke me up…

"Good luck, Wright-san!" Nami said.

"If Marimo gets sentenced to death for this, it's okay with me," Sanji replied (why do I get the feeling they don't get along well…?).

"Attorney-san, I'm looking forward to seeing how you take the law into your hands," Robin said, as primp and proper as ever.

"See you soon, Nick, Zoro!" Chopper and Usopp proclaimed, "We're all behind you, all the way!"

"Yeah yeah," Zoro muttered through a yawn. Then, serious as all get out, the swordsman glared straight at me, "Look, buddy. My life's at stake here. This is the first time I've given my whole being to someone I don't even know." He glanced in Luffy's direction, and then turned back to me, "Alright, TWICE, but if you screw up, I swear…"

"I'll… do what I can…" I muttered, scratching the back of my head as I sweated (dangit, as if the stakes weren't high enough…), "Well, either way, it's just about time for us to head into the courtroom. Zoro, you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," The first mate replied, looking away in an aloof manner, "I'm always ready."

"Alright then!" As I led the defendant to the courtroom, I suddenly felt a sinking feeling in me. This was… the first time I really didn't have anyone at my side… There was Maya, and then Ema… but now, I have a grumpy swordsman with a no good streak as my only company… things… are going to be hard…

---

**January 18, 6:00  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Courtroom No. 3**

The entire courtroom fell silent as a young woman slammed a gavel down. The Fangirl Judge began the trial, "Order! This court is in session! Silence will be upheld during this trial, and that means no outbursts of '(Insert lust interest here), I love you!'"

I began to sweat (They actually DO stuff like that…?).

"Uhhh, Um…" I looked across the way, on the other side of the court, and I saw a young woman, who seemed to be rather clumsy, as she was trying to catch her glasses that she dropped from fiddling with them too much, "The Prosecution… it's ready, Your Honor."

"The Defense is also ready, Your Honor."

"Good good," The judge replied, swinging her gavel around like the entire thing was a game, "The prosecution's opening statements, please and all that jazz."

I couldn't believe it. (Even the Fangirls' judges don't take murder charges seriously?) Maybe I should have listened to Edgeworth. Can't be cocky when there's a judge that doesn't really care how this turns out…

"I have found… sufficient… evidence that says Roronoa Zoro is the man who killed Imra Bid, Your Honor," Tashigi said, fiddling with her glasses. She looked down at what appeared to be a rather thick book ("law book," I thought to myself), and then back up to the judge, "I would like to have Detective Gumshoe of the "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" World of MangaLand come forward, please ("Earth's… nickname is named after ME…?" I gasped). He is the investigator of the crime, so I think his testimony and summary of the crime will help people better understand it. Alright?"

"Alright then, bring him in…" The judge replied, a smile brought to her lips. It took only a few minutes, as Gumshoe was in the audience at the time. After being brought up on the witness stand, the judge looked him down, and instantly seemed disinterested again, "Well, hurry up with that testimony, we don't have all day…"

"Right!" Gumshoe replied, smiling, "Here's a synopsis of what happened. On January 16, Ms. Imra Bid was impaled by a long sword, or, more specifically, a Katana. It ripped through her heart and left her dead on the floor. This here is the Katana," and with that, he pulled up a long sword, curved a bit, with gloves, "This is the very murder weapon that was found lying next to Ms. Bid on that day."

"The court accepts this evidence, Your Honor?" Tashigi asked, adjusting her glasses.

"Yeah, yeah. It's a nice piece of work. Is it named?"

"No, it is beautifully made," Tashigi said, "But it's not a Meitou or anything. The design is great and the handle…"

"Objection!" I shouted, pointing my finger at the rambling prosecution, "Please, Your Honor, do we really need to know THIS much about the murder weapon?" (and what is a "Meitou" anyway?)

"Yeah, the defense has a point. I'm getting bored of it now anyway. Oh yeah, it's accepted as evidence now. Whoopdiedo…"

"Oh, another thing; about the forensic tests…" Detective Gumshoe continued. He pulled out a small file and handed it in, "All of the tests have been completed. Here they are."

"Well, at least someone knows what to do around here!" The judge proclaimed, "Lemme see…" She looked over it a little, all the while the prosecution and I listened intently, "Apparently… this file contains the tests on the fingerprints and the blood upon the Katana. The fingerprints are from Zoro… his left hand, apparently…"

"WHAT?" I roared, the color draining from my face. I turned to stare at the swordsman, "You did FAIL to tell me about this, Zoro!"

"Aren't you supposed to investigate this crap?" He growled in response, glaring right back.

"Also, the blood on the sword… is from… Ms. Imra Bid… and… Sakura Tenshi?" The Judge shouted in disbelief. There was a murmur among the people.

"Shut it! Shut it up, all of you!" The Judge shouted, slamming her gavel down, "Tashigi, what's the meaning of this? How did Sakura Tenshi's blood get on the sword, anyway?"

Tashigi looked like she was going to be sick, but she recovered fast, "Well, that's really weird. You know, since she IS the witness and all. That night, she was cut along her arm. Can you believe it? I think there's really only one way to figure out what happened…

"Detective Gumshoe, if you don't mind, could you bring in the Mary Sue, Sakura Tenshi, in as a witness?"

"Whatever you say, you're the prosecutor!" Gumshoe replied, relieving himself of the podium to go collect the woman. It took a little longer than usual, but suddenly the door opened and a call rang through the entire courtroom.

"Hello, my darling chickadees! It's ME, Sakura Tenshi!" The Mary Sue proclaimed, throwing kisses to everyone in the room. The only blemish she had was that one of her arms was bandaged, probably from the cut that was mentioned a while ago, "Created by none other than your FAVORITE One Piece Fan, Digitaldreamer!" (What kind of girl calls herself "Digital Dreamer?" I wondered).

The woman took the stand, and she smiled at everyone, "It's been a while since I saw you all. I seem to remember it was something along the lines of banishing me off the face of the planets!" She sniffled a bit and went into a horrendous (and probably memorized) angsty speech, "All I wanted was to be near my dearest, my one true love! How could you keep me away from Zoro-kun? Oh, Zoro-kun, why won't you accept our love? We've loved each other in our past lives, it's DESTINY that we live together in this life!"

I shuddered inwardly at that word… Destiny…

---

"_Ryu-chan…" The woman said, "Don't ever be sad. We're meant for each other. It's Destiny when we met that day, and now, we'll love each other… forever…"_

"_Yeah, Chii-chan… Forever…"_

---

The gavel suddenly slammed down, ripping me from my weird flashback. It was something… I remember, and yet, something inside me told me to forget… "You okay?" Zoro asked, and I turned to him, blinking, "You look like you saw a ghost."

I turned and stared at Sakura, who was shaking from the gavel's noise, "M… Maybe I did…"

The Judge said, "You're here to tell us some testimony, not to cry about the way defendant isn't returning your affections!" She said, "Now, Prosecution, please, continue."

"…Yeah…" Tashigi replied, adjusting her glasses, "Um… Witness, what are your name and your profession, please?"

Sakura smiled at Tashigi, "Don't be scared, young one," She said, turning to look at me (or maybe just Zoro… I couldn't tell…), "The truth will come out soon." There was silence for a moment, and she smiled, "My name is Sakura Tenshi, and I'm a Mary Sue. My profession…?" She winked in the defense's (Meaning Zoro's and my) direction, "being CUTE!"

I nearly lost all feeling in my legs and I had to slam my hand on the desk before me to keep upright (Although it had a second purpose; now no one noticed the way I was sweating profusely). Why… did this girl make me feel so weird…? "Th… The witness will refrain from HITTING on the defendant. If you don't mind."

"Oh, such a spoil sport…" Sakura replied, looking away and puffing up her cheeks.

"If you don't mind, Sakura, could you please tell us what you saw that night, two days ago?" Tashigi asked, and the Mary Sue smiled once again at the Marine.

"Whatever you say, I'll only tell the truth, cross my heart and hope to die!"

"Please!" Zoro whispered, loud enough for me to hear, "Let her DIE…" I smirked a bit to myself as Sakura began her testimony:

"Let's see…" She said, looking at the ceiling and thinking hard, "It was really dark… it had recently stopped raining…"

She looked back down at the people in the court, and continued, "I was walking down the back alley, because I had smelled Zoro-kun about!"

I followed the smell of my one true love. I had almost gotten to see him when…"

She gave a frightened look, remembering the horror she saw, "I saw Zoro-kun, and that totally un-hot cook, Sanji was next to him!"

"Zoro-kun was holding that Katana in his left hand… but the deed had already been done."

"She gave a fiery look, to heighten the suspense, "Like some scary mystery story, Imra Bid was DEAD!"

"It was absolutely horrible! When I tried to apprehend Zoro-kun, he attacked me and gave me this gash on my arm before I could send the Fangirls in."

"They finally apprehended him, though, and that's how this whole mess started! Or, really… ended…"

I gulped from the testimony given. People were murmuring amongst themselves, although I could distinctly hear Sanji murmur, "Mellorine, Sakura is so wonderful when she's degrading my existence!" The chattering made it hard for me to think, "Contractions, contractions… I need to find a contraction… given the evidence I have…"

"Order! Order in MY court!" The Judge shouted, puffing up her cheeks, "Defense, are you ready to cross-examine the witness?"

("Not reaaaaaally…" I wanted to say) but instead, I said, "I am, Your Honor," Although I couldn't find anything. This evidence… Nothing I have can help this case! Nevertheless, I prepared to cross-examine this witness. If Zoro really WAS innocent, it would be found with a contradiction to this story!

I placed my hands on the desk and looked the witness dead straight in the eye, "Alright then, Sakura, was it? I need to know: How do you SMELL Zoro?" He asked, and the girl smirked, her smiling making me wish I had never taken the case in the first place.

"Zoro-kun has a very… distinct smell, I can tell his location a mile away. I've been trying to find him by traveling from World to World after I was BANISHED by the very woman who created me!"

"Witness, please," The Judge moaned, "Shut up…"

"And, are you sure you saw Sanji with Zoro?" I pointed up towards the audience, where the Straw Hat Pirates sat, "The one with the eye covered by his bangs?"

"I have a photographic memory, of course I'm sure!" She replied tapping the side of her head. She began to sniff, "Why don't you believe me, you meanie?"

"Please, Wright-san, don't make my witness cry," Tashigi said, "She's… delicate…"

"What does that remind me of…?" I wondered.

"Oh! Speaking of photographs! I remember this!" Sakura pulled something out of her cleavage and presented it to the judge, "You see, Miss Judge Lady? It's a photograph of the CRIME SCENE! Oooooh!"

"Hum? Lemme take a look at that…" After further inspection, she nodded, "It certainly does SEEM to be a photograph of the scene of the crime. Here, the defense and prosecution may look at it."

I stared intently at the photograph after Tashigi inspected it (a lot of fiddling with glasses was involved). It was just a picture of the late Imra Bid, dead, stabbed through by a Katana. The weapon was sticking straight up, looking rather like a grotesque grave symbol. The potholes next to her didn't help. They looked like empty graves. I couldn't place my finger on it… but something seemed weird about this picture.

"So… about the sword… How was the defendant holding it…?" I asked, rubbing my chin thoughtfully.

"Objection!" Tashigi cried, "That… doesn't have any relevance to the case! Who cares how the PIRATE was holding his murder weapon?"

"Objection!" I countered, "You cannot slander my client just because of his profession!" I pointed at the prosecutor dramatically, "Should I say next that half Marines in your world are corrupt and enjoy take bribes?"

"You… How DARE YOU!" She screamed in response, "If… Captain Smoker knows about ANYTHING, he would do everything in his power to…"

The gavel banged and the court became quiet, "Mr. Wright, please, don't be stupid. Just tell us. Does the sword's location mean anything to the case?"

"It does, Your Honor," I said with a nod, "Sakura, where was that katana?"

"Jeez, you really need to listen," The witness replied, checking her nails, "He was holding it in his hands, like THIS!" She showed off by holding her hands up, high above her head, as if to bring an imaginary sword down into an imaginary victim.

I shook my head, and opened my eyes, the passion returning in a moment, "Except it COULDN'T happen that way! I OBJECT!" I shouted, looking up at Sakura, who looked at me with those EYES… I nearly lost my nerve, "This… this picture shows an obvious contradiction!" I pointed directly at the witness, who pursed her lips; they were turning white, "You said you saw the victim WITHOUT the sword within her body! Why is it in there now?" She gave a squeal and reeled as if she had been punched in the gut, crying out.

There was a murmur among the people, and I could distinctly hear Robin say, "He certainly knows what to do…"

"Order! Order!" The Judge said, "Jeez, I'm going to have to throw you all out! Seriously! Alright then, Witness, what's up?"

"It's simple, really…" I said, tapping the photo, smirking a bit, "This photograph is a fake! If you'd kindly look at the potholes…"

"Hum…" The Judge stared hard, "What's wrong with them…? They look like grotesque, empty graves."

"That's just IT, Your Honor. They shouldn't be EMPTY, they should be filled with water from the rain! This means this photo was taken AFTER the crime was committed!" I slammed my hands on the desk, "How to you explain that, Ms. Sakura?"

"Uhhh… uuuuggg…?" Sakura groaned, "I don't feel so well…"

"Don't feign sickness, Witness. What did you do with the photo? Did you manipulate it in some way? Hummm…?"

Sakura continued clutching her stomach, her eyes half banked. Even then… she looked absolutely beautiful… She then quickly gained her composure, "It's… simple, really! I… I…!"

"The defense rests for this testimony," I said, "It's too filled with holes to even continue. Next time, Ms. Tenshi," I pointed my finger at her accusingly, "tell us the TRUTH!"

"K… KYAAAAAA!" Sakura screamed, nearly dropping to the floor. She had to grab the podium to keep upright, "You… monster! How DARE you pick on a poor young woman?" She began to moan, and big, silvery tears fell from her face, "You can't just tell me I'm a liar! That's the long nose's job!"

"People are going to call you a liar if you lie, Witness," The Judge said, sighing a bit, "Now, you have to tell us what REALLY happened. Alright?"

"What… really happened? About that dumb photo? A…" She looked away, stood upright, and faced back towards the judge, "Alright, I'll do it…"

"You see, when I heard the first scream, I rushed towards the scene. I… I saw a katana sticking from the victim's body."

"I… used my Devil Fruit power, you see… to make the water in the potholes dry up."

"I wanted to make sure the blood didn't seep into the water. That's it!"

"I then took a picture, and I hid away, because I heard that the murderer always returns to the scene of a crime!"

She looked away, a little sadly, "But, I couldn't believe it when I saw Sanji and Zoro-Kun. I really, couldn't believe it was Zoro-Kun!"

"However, he picked up that katana; his fingerprints are on that katana and not Sanji's fingerprints…"

"So it must not be the cook. It HAS to be Zoro-Kun!"

"I see," The Judge muttered, "So you went there before hand and… changed the crime scene? Witness, that is a terrible offense to change a crime scene like that!"

"But, Your Honor! I was only trying to HELP the Fangirls. If there's too much water in the blood, it's hard to take a test with forensics!" Sakura said, shining a brilliantly winning smile, "I wasn't forging evidence or anything, I was being helpful!"

("What are 'Devil Fruit powers'?" I cried to myself.) Then, regaining my composure, I began the cross-examination, "Sakura, about your 'Devil Fruit powers'…"

"Ahhh, yes," Sakura replied, smiling, "You don't know the first thing about Devil Fruits, huh? You see, when you eat a fruit of the devil, you gain special powers, but you lose the ability to swim in sea water. That saying, my Devil Fruit is called the Element Element Fruit. It gives me the power to control all the elements in any way I desire, and it gives me telekinesis, so I simply made the sun shine right where the water was and had it evaporate."

("But telekinesis doesn't have anything to DO with the Elements!" I said inwardly). Shaking my head, I continued, "But Sakura, why didn't you SAY anything? You could have called for help!"

"But the Marines can't fight evil people. Only I'm strong enough to fight evil murderers!"

Tashigi looked away, "We can too fight… we need to…" She murmured, and for the first time, I noticed that Tashigi was a devoted officer of the law…

"Either way," Sakura said, "I stayed because I know I could have overpowered the murderer once he appeared again. I let the Fangirls handle Zoro, though… I couldn't bring myself to subdue him with my brand of Santouryuu, although it would be very easy…" I sweated a bit. Was there NOTHING this woman couldn't do?

"But something seems really strange…" I thought, "Something's wrong, but…" I continued to sweat when I realized, "I can't find out WHAT is wrong…!"

"Well, Mr. Wright?" The Judge said, "If there's nothing to be gained from this cross-examination, we can assume that the witness' testimony is rock solid. Which means only one thing. She DID see the defendant killing the victim, which means that…"

"No! No!" I whined, getting cold and clammy as the woman began to bring her gavel down, "There must be something! Something!"

"This court finds the defendant, Roronoa Zoro…"

"Bastard!" Zoro growled gutturally at me, "DO something!"

"I've got to do something, now!" Before the gavel fell, I slammed my hands on the desk, "OBJECTION!" The gavel stopped, hovering just inches in the air.

"What is it NOW, Mr. Wright?" Tashigi said, sounding angry, she was even adjusting her glasses with irritancy.

"Your Honor, the witness is clearly lying." I looked as determined as I could, but Sakura looked absolutely enraged, "This piece of evidence proves it!"

The Judge looked sad that she couldn't pound her gavel, and she began twirling it again, "What are you talking about, Mr. Wright? WHAT piece of evidence proves WHAT?"

"Uh…" I sifted through everything I had, "Um…"

"Your Honor…" Tashigi addressed the Judge, "Mr. Wright OBVIOUSLY is only stalling for time. Please, if you will, just give us the verdict and let us go on with our lives."

"We can't rule out any possibility!" I said aloud, "I think I know what I can use now. Here it is. The contradiction in her testimony!"

"You lie. You don't have anything," Sakura said, although I could tell that beads of sweat were accumulating on her forehead.

"Your honor, I present to you, the murder weapon!"

"Whoopdeefeakingdoo," The Judge replied, "What's so special about it NOW?"

"The fact of the matter is," I said, gaining confidence with each new word I spoke, "Sakura said that she was waiting for the murderer to return. Not only did TWO people arrive on the scene, but she clearly testified that during the sighting of the two pirates, Zoro PICKED UP THE MURDER WEAPON!"

"And that means…?"

"It's simple, really, if Zoro picked it up now, and left fingerprints, what's to say he ever picked it up in the first place when he apparently 'stabbed' the victim? The answer? He never DID!"

There was a murmur among the audience. Zoro looked like he was regaining composure, as he was apparently blacking out during parts of this trial, "Objection!" Tashigi shouted, looking terribly angry, "That's… purely speculation! He could have picked it up twice with his left hand! Do you have evidence to support your claim?"

"I don't need evidence," I said, shaking my head, "More of Sakura's testimony is enough." I put my hands on my hips, a cocky grin lighting up my face, "If there were 'Two People' who returned to the crime scene, what stops Sanji, the cook, from being a suspect?"

"Bastard!" Sanji roared from the audience, "You want some of this, saying I'M the murderer? I'll cut you into little pieces and feed you to the crows! EXTRA CRISPY!" I began to sweat. Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to say.

"Order! Order in the court, dangit!" The Judge shouted, banging her gavel (which seemed to make her a little happier), "What are you saying, Mr. Wright? Are you saying Sanji was the one who killed the victim?"

"I didn't mean it that way, your honor," I said, sweating bullets, "I just mean that there are plenty of possibilities that can be brought up through the evidence given. We shouldn't even rule out that the real murderer was wearing gloves!"

"But who could be wearing gloves that day who had met with the victim? The answer is none," Tashigi said, wagging her finger at me, "Shame on you for throwing out useless suggestions."

"HOLD IT!" Everyone gasped. Who could have shouted that? They looked around, and suddenly there was a "THUD". I moaned as Monkey D. Luffy leapt up from the ground, because he had fallen from the raised audience seats, "I know who was wearing gloves that had seen the witness that day! I know!"

"Monkey D. Luffy, you have something to say about this trial? You're a witness as well?" The Judge said, frowning in thought at the young captain. Sakura hissed under her breath, but at Zoro's features tugged to make a slight smile ("Oh SURE," I thought, "Put your trust in a guy who doesn't know the first thing about law!").

"I don't know ANYTHING about law!" Luffy said, giving evidence to my thought, "But I do know that if there's someone who's witnessed something, he should witness! Isn't that true, Judge Lady?"

"Luffy!" I cried hoarsely, "it's 'Your Honor'!"

"Are you saying, Monkey D. Luffy, that you're a witness to this murder?" The Judge asked.

"Well, I guess you could say that," Luffy said, "You see, the lady, Imra or whatever, and I were playing tag in the town on the day she died!"

"Your Honor!" I cried, pointing directly at the chuckling captain dramatically, "I request that you allow Monkey D. Luffy to testify before the Court of Law!"

"This is turning out weirder than I expected this case to be…" Tashigi muttered, adjusting her glasses and gasping when they fell from her face.

"What are you pulling, you stupid rubber monkey?" Sakura hissed as Tashigi groped for her glasses, finally finding them, and replacing them on her face.

"Nothing," Luffy replied with a smile, revealing his hands, palm faces up, "My hands are empty!" The silly reply both made me feel slightly happy he was witnessing… but also made me afraid this would turn out worse than it already was…

"Alright then," The Judge slammed her gavel down, "Court is in recess! The witness will refrain from speaking with either the Defense or the Prosecution. Alright?"

"Right!" Luffy said as the people in the audience stood and everyone shuffled from the courtroom…

---

**January 18, 3:22  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Defendant Lobby No. 2**

"What's going on here…?" Zoro asked, his fingers drumming against his arm, "What's going on with Luffy?"

"Don't worry, the bailiffs don't just randomly kill people, no matter if they're pirates or not," I replied, "It's just supposed to be a procedure to make sure that I don't feed him lines. You know, don't poison the well?" I tried to continue, but Zoro didn't seem to be buying it, "Besides, your captain seems to get along with everyone. It'll be fine."

"Well then, what's the plan?" The swordsman asked.

"Well, since you ARE innocent…" I muttered, in deep thought, "Then Luffy's testimony will be able to contradict Sakura's, and then… Well… HOPEFULLY things will turn out okay afterwards."

"What was that?" Zoro growled, "Are you insinuating something…?"

"…Nothing…" I looked away, sighing. Well, really, all we had to do now was leave it up to Luffy's testimony. If he could help this case, then that was all I could ever ask for…

…

To Be Continued…

---

Originally I was going to make it even longer than this (one chapter for each day), but this came out way too long. Expect other days to be separated as such. Review and all that jazz or something!


	3. Day 2: Trial Afternoon

For people who may not know:

Phoenix Wright's trials last for no longer than three days, which means that overall, there should be 6 days, maybe 7. This here is the end of the second day. I'm currently writing the fourth day, so hopefully I'll finally finish SOMETHING and you guys can all cheer for me. Or hate me, because seriously, PHOENIX WRIGHT... WORST CROSSOVER... EVER...

READ ON!

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 2: Trial; Afternoon

**January 18, 3:30  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Courtroom No. 3**

The courtroom quieted when the gavel was brought down by the Fangirl judge, "The recess is over, court is now in session!"

"The Defense is ready, Your Honor," I said.

"The Prosecution is ready, Your Honor," Tashigi spoke.

"Alright then," The Judge replied, "Bring forward the new witness!" Luffy took the stand, and smiled a bit at the defense, waving at Zoro and I. He sure was smiling brightly,

"Well then… may I have your name, and… your profession…?" Tashigi asked, looking a little angry having to ask such a question.

"My name? It's Monkey D. Luffy! Tashigi, you know that, don't you?" Luffy asked, thinking, "I think your boss is always like," He started impersonating a rather angry gorilla, "'Rawr, catch Luffy!'"

"Your profession, If… You… Will…" The prosecutor hissed.

"I'm the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. The Mugiwara Kaizokudan!" Luffy replied, smiling, "But try and remember this time, alright?"

The Judge sighed and I continued to sweat. This wasn't… going so well… "You haven't seen anything yet…" Zoro said, smiling, "Luffy can get out of any trap set by the Marines. He'll take care of everything." ("Great" I moaned, "Now 'Luffy's' doing everything… What about me?")

The Judge continued the trial, "Now then, Witness. I need you to start testifying about when you met the victim. Tell us about your encounter with her."

"I'll do my best, Ms. Judge La… Your Honor…" Luffy cut himself off and corrected himself mid-sentence. I smiled. He didn't seem pretty smart at first glance, but he was pretty sharp… The captain began his testimony, and I listened with bated breath. Something in here must be contradictory to Sakura's testimony, and once that's found, it'll give me enough room of doubt to get Zoro off the hook…

("That is…" I muttered, sweating, "Unless Zoro really IS the murderer…!")

Luffy began rubbing his straw hat in thought as he began, "You see, we were playing together. Imra had met me that day."

He nodded, completely sure his testimony was accurate, "We played outside and she was a really great runner! I could barely catch her at tag!"

"She kept asking weird things, though, mostly about Zoro. Always with the, 'How much do you like him?'"

He looked a little angry and said quite forcefully, as if speaking directly to the deceased, "He's my Nakama, Imra! Oh yeah… she's not alive anymore…"

He paused, "I guess I'll kinda miss her…"

"Objection!" Tashigi said, slamming her hand on the desk, "This courtroom needs facts, not ramblings!"

The Judge shook her head, "Objection sustained. Luffy, is there anything else that's important about this inanity?"

"Hopefully…" I muttered, "This isn't helping the case at all! Unless…" I thought about it for a moment as Luffy whined on the podium, "I could press some extra information out of him!"

"Your Honor!" I raised my voice so everyone's eyes were on me, "I reserve the right to cross-examine a witness!"

"Cross-examine? Me? Is that where you ask me lots of questions about my testimony like you did with Sakura?" Luffy rubbed his hands together and placed them on the podium, "Shoot, Nick!"

("Gahhhh!" I moaned, "How unprofessional!") but I got myself ready. I needed to ask him just the right questions to get him to say something that contradicted Sakura's testimonies.

"Alright then, Luffy, you ready?" I asked. Luffy nodded, "I need you to tell me. Who had those gloves you were talking about?"

"Well…" Luffy said, thinking, "I had some of those surgery glove things. It was kinda funny. I was buying some things for Chopper, because we were going to have a gift giving party, and I thought I should buy some medicine for him! But don't tell him, it's still a secret."

I sweated a bit, "Yeah, your secret's safe with me, Luffy," ("Although Chopper's right up there…" I muttered to myself) Sure enough, the little reindeer was giggling happily from the news of his present.

"Anyway, I wasn't sure what to get, so the man behind the counter gave me some medicines and salves, and he didn't know that Chopper's a reindeer, so he gave me a box of surgery gloves for free, too! Wasn't that nice?"

There was a murmur among the crowd, and Luffy noticed Zoro and I sweating profusely, "Hey, is something wrong?"

"You've just dug your own grave, Monkey D. Luffy," Tashigi said, closing her eyes, and crossing her arms. She certainly looked smug, "You were with the victim that day, and you had the surgery gloves. The only thing missing now is where you got this Katana from."

"What Katana? THAT one?" He asked, pointing directly at the murder weapon, which was resting next to Tashigi. The captain laughed, "Don't you know? That's Imra's Katana! She carried it with her at her hip the entire day!"

"GAHHHHHH!" I shouted, feeling the sharp pain of Luffy murdering our case in cold blood. There was a murmur from the audience, and the captain smiled, "Well, I told the truth! Did that help?"

"Indeed, it helped your first mate's case," Tashigi said quietly, closing her eyes calmly and adjusting her glasses, "However…

"It's now YOU who is suspected for murder!"

"Order! Order! Tashigi, what is the meaning of this?" The Judge stared at the young prosecutor, and she smirked a smile that sent chills up my spine.

"You see, Your Honor," Tashigi said, glaring at Monkey D. Luffy, still oblivious to what was going on around him, "The Witness has explained the motive, the means, and the way that he killed Imra Bid, the victim!" She pointed her finger at the captain, who seemed to be getting that something was going on, "Therefore, it can only be conclusive that Roronoa Zoro did not commit this atrocious act, but Monkey D. Luffy did!"

"W… W… Waiiiiiiiit!" I cried, my knees shaking like branches on a windy day, "Tha… That…" (She's sounding like ME on MY first case! The resemblance is almost uncanny!).

"Pssst!" Luffy said, looking at me and attempting to whisper in my direction, "I have a feeling something bad's happening… What's going on…?"

Tashigi began to explain for those in the audience who were still in the dark, "The witness was playing Tag with the victim, until he heard her speaking of his 'relationship' with Zoro. Not only that, but the woman was stalking the first mate since they arrived on No-Name Island. Luffy is awfully protective of his… 'Nakama', your honor, and so, on that very night, he applied those surgeon gloves, grabbed the Katana from the Fangirl's side and ran her through!"

"WHAT?" Luffy shouted, practically climbing over the podium to get closer to the Judge, to tell her, "That's no fair! I didn't think of that! I only punch people!"

Tashigi shook her head, and wagged her finger back and forth, "All the more reason to try and kill her in a different way." She slammed her hand on the desk and I could swear I saw a swooshing background when the camera panned to close up on HER! "You were trying to hide away from the killing by letting someone else take the blame!"

"Liar! Liar!" Luffy shouted, looking positively enraged, "You're lying, Tashigi! Stop saying stupid things like that!"

"Well, this is a strange turn of events…" The Judge said, in deep thought, "So, it appears that Luffy is now a suspect in this case? And really, he DOES have a motive…"

"It's not true! I didn't see her at night!" Luffy said desperately, "I only played with her during the day!"

I grabbed at whatever I could, and turned to the Judge, "Could we, Your Honor, listen to his testimony about what happened that…"

"Objection!" Tashigi said, glaring straight at me, "Your Honor, there is not enough evidence to be able to continue this trial. I request a recess," She looked up at the Judge, "I need to investigate this matter. Do you mind?"

"Well, it WAS just getting interesting…" The Judge replied. She then rolled up her sleeve and looked at her watch, "But Desperate Housewives is coming on in an hour, and it's a two hour special. So we'll continue this tomorrow!" She slammed her gavel down, "Court is in recess!"

---

**January 18, 7:46  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Defendant Lobby No. 2**

"Well… that could have gone… better…" I murmured as I walked from the courtroom into the lobby. I was sweating all over, and I tried moving my fingers, because I couldn't feel anything with them.

"Alright now, bastard, you have some SERIOUS explaining to do!" Zoro shouted as Luffy walked out of the courtroom behind the first mate, although he was smiling brightly, "You were supposed to get me off the hook, not get my captain suspected!"

"I did my best, with what I had," I said, looking at the small amounts of evidence I had in the court record, "But if Luffy's testimony is… true… what else can I do?"

"Ever the rookie to the very end, Wright…" The three men looked up as two others approached. Of course, it was Edgeworth and Gumshoe. Edgeworth had his arms crossed, and he was glaring straight at me, "You should have realized that you fell straight into the Prosecution's trap. They meant all along for the suspect to be Luffy, and here it is, you practically handed his head to them on a silver platter."

"I saw the trap, but with what little evidence I had, I couldn't do anything to stop it," I replied, shaking my head, "What else could I have done?"

"Kept ANYONE but my captain off of the suspect list? Why didn't you keep the spotlight on that Magical Eyebrow? ANYONE'S better than Luffy! He's the CAPTAIN!" Zoro was fuming, but no one seemed to notice Luffy's bright smile. Everyone but Gumshoe, who always seemed to gravitate to happiness.

"Awww, it can't be that bad, Pals!" The detective replied, motioning to Luffy, "Your captain seems to be smiling about it!"

"Luffy?" Zoro and I turned to see the captain. He was still smiling, so I pressed him, "Why? Why are you happy? Murder's a serious charge, Luffy…"

"I know," Luffy replied. He then shook his head, "But now Zoro's off the hook. I can't ask for much else, since I don't mind if I get found guilty, as long as none of my other Nakama are safe…"

"Luffy…" Zoro's hard exterior seemed to melt before everyone else's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure, "but your attorney should have done something to stop this!"

"HEY! Luffy, your attorney shouldn't have made ME look like the bad guy here! I refuse to allow him to help us anymore!" Well, here came the rest of the bandwagon…

"I'm not so sure, Cook-san, Attorney-san seemed to do very well with the evidence he possessed…" Robin murmured. Sanji gave me a glare, but turned back to the older woman.

"Alright, Robin-chan! Luffy, if you get rid of this bastard, I'll kick you back to the day of the murder!" It still sounds like he hates my guts. Why would that be, anyway?

Luffy laughed aloud, "I wouldn't dream of firing Nick! If anything, he's really funny!" (Well, I guess "funny" could be another way of saying "Good at his job"…)

"Luuuuuuuffy!" Chopper cried as he rushed into the captain's arms, sniffling, "If you're found guilty, then you won't be able to give me that gift of medicine!"

"GASP!" Luffy shouted, glaring in my direction, "Nick! I told you, it was a SECRET!"

"Yeah…" I replied, sweating a bit, "I'll be sure to keep it secret next time. I promise." I looked around, and suddenly noticed the glares that were shot from Edgeworth and the pirates. I guessed that an introduction was in order, "Oh yeah, everyone, these are my friends, Miles Edgeworth and Detective Dick Gumshoe. You remember, they're in investigations."

"If they did a better job, Luffy wouldn't be in this mess, though," Nami said, crossing her arms and smiling. That struck a nerve with Edgeworth, and he looked rather aggravated.

After crossing his arms, he did his best to ignore the pirate, and focused on me instead, "Anyway, Wright, we'll do what we can to find anything out, although, most of the evidence we find will most likely be given to the prosecution. After all, she is the one working with the law, and all," Edgeworth looked around at the pirates, and turned on his heel, making a squeaking sound as he did so, "I guess I could say 'good luck', because you're definitely going to need it."

Suddenly, the former prosecutor realized that Gumshoe wasn't following him. He turned back and noticed the detective speaking with Luffy, "So, you were fighting a man who could control sand, Pal?"

"Yeah! I have the scars to prove it! Wanna see?" Luffy said, unbuttoning his monkey vest. ("What happened to 'opposites attract'?" I wondered, "These two are exactly the same!")

"Detective!" Edgeworth said forcefully, and before Gumshoe could continue speaking with the captain of the straw hats, he went off to follow the man, looking a little dejected. I started to sweat; the poor detective didn't deserve another dock in his paycheck…

"Well, I say we celebrate!" Luffy said after buttoning up his vest again and vaulting off the couch he was sitting on only a moment before, "For Zoro's freedom!"

"But Luffy, what about yours?" Usopp asked, "We can't very well be Straw Hat Pirates if the man with the straw hat is detained!"

"That's why the party will also be for Nick! He's the one who's going to get me out of this jam!" Luffy said, that same determined look on his face. I smiled sheepishly. It was strange that the only one who really believed in me was the only one whose opinion really mattered. No one spoke a word against me; instead they followed the boy with the straw hat from the lobby, hoping to get back to the ship as quickly as possible. Hopefully Luffy wasn't blindly putting his faith in me. I'll have to do my best, for his sake!

Although… I wonder if that cook guy's going to try poisoning my food during the party… Poison… No… no one is that evil…

…Or are they…?

…

To Be Continued…

---

Hope you guys liked it or something. What will happen with Luffy or something OMG?

Review or something.


	4. Day 3: Investigation

Alright, before I continue, I need to remember a few things... Um... Alright, first... Haha, My poor beta was asking me if DigitalDreamer is going to kill me for writing a Mary Sue made by her. Thing is, she WAS made by her. In fact, if you hop over into her little profile, you can see the story where she first appears. You know, it has "Mary Sue" in the title. Also, I was given total and complete permission to use Sakura Tenshi, I've just been forgetting to mention so about SEVENTEEN BILLION TIMES. So now it's off my chest.

Second part, my poor beta was ALSO worried about the second Mary Sue that appears here, right towards the beginning. Just look down, and then back up here. See her? Yeah, he was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. I had to explain to him the awful, terrible truth. She's canon. So sit back, and witness, the best canon Mary Sue since Aeris/th/thththththththth. Or something.

If I forgot something again, just look up at the first thing I forgot, seventeen billion times. I tend to do so. So have fun reading!

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 3: Investigation

**January 19, 5:01  
Going Merry Go  
Galley**

_The chair I was sitting in was rather plush. It took all my willpower not to pass out in its loving embrace. The rest of my power was focused on a book in front of me. Exams were coming up, and if I was going to be a defense attorney, I was going to have to work really hard! Although… perhaps I should have stopped _

_I hardly noticed when the library's doors opened, although I was able to look up at the young woman that was walking into the place. She had a transparent silken shawl, and was dressed in the finest of pink silk. Covering her head from the sunlight was a pink and white parasol, and her face was delicate enough to show the obvious innocence that she possessed. She seemed to be looking for something, and I wondered if she was new to the campus, maybe lost here in Yuumei University? I closed my book and stood up, and the slight shifting noise I made attracted her attention to me._

"_You…" She murmured, taking a step forward. Her smile made me smile widely, "What's your name…?"_

"_Me…?" I asked, rubbing the back of my spiky hair as I approached her, "It's Phoenix, Phoenix Wright."_

"_I knew it!" She said, clasping her hands together, her face brightening. I blushed a bit at her beautiful face, "I knew it, the very moment I saw your face, your name is 'Phoenix Wright'! Although, you sound more like a 'Ryu-chan', to me."_

"_R… Ryu-chan?" I asked, blushing redder than a beet. She smiled, and clasped her hand around a pendant that hung around her neck._

"_I… This was a gift from my father, he's an aristocrat, you see," She said, giggling at the way I was blushing, "I promised my family that I would give this to my one true love."_

"_Your… what…?"_

"_Don't you see, Ryu-chan?" The woman asked, gracefully flipping the necklace off (and, amazingly, it didn't get caught in her beautifully red/orange hair), and she pressed the pendant into my hands, "It was… destiny, destiny that we would meet. We shouldn't defy the laws of Fate. Ryu-chan, for better or for worse, we'll be together, forever… This locket will be our promise to each other. We'll always be together, it's destiny."_

_I could barely contain my joy. It was strange; I felt the exact same way. It was destiny that the two of us had met that very day; it was destiny that the two of us should stay together forever… "Yeah… there's just one thing…" The woman blinked at me questioningly as I clasped the necklace around my neck, fingering it slightly, "What's your name, anyway?"_

"_My name?" She asked, surprised. She giggled, and the light laughter made me laugh as well. We chuckled together for a moment, and when she finally stopped, she took my shoulder, and lifted herself on her tiptoes to whisper into my ear, "You need to remember my name forever, Ryu-chan, it's…"_

---

"Rise and shine, Nick!" I turned to the side, trying to get the light that was shining on me out of my eyes. I wanted to finish the dream; it was so familiar… "Nick! It's breakfast time, and you're sleeping on my chair!"

"Five more minutes, Luffy…" I grumbled, "What was her naaaame…?"

"Whose name?" My eyes shot open, and I looked up at the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, who was shining a flashlight in my eyes. THAT was where the light suddenly came from. With a yawn, I sat up from my "bed", which was really one of the galley's table's benches. Last night's party was really wild, and Zoro had dumped down two bottles of Sake down my throat. That was more alcohol than I'd had in most sittings, and I was out like a light. Well, to Zoro, it probably wasn't "enough" alcohol, because I could still remember most of the events that happened last night. Most of them, of course… "You didn't answer, Nick! Whose name do you want to know?"

"Nothing," I replied, yawning, "It was in my dream. I already forgot it," For a defense attorney intent on finding the truth, I WAS very good at thinking up lies on the fly.

"Awww, too bad," Luffy whined, but let it drop now that his chair was open. He settled down right on his seat, and I sighed: my over shirt that I was using as a pillow was on the bench where the captain was now sitting. He seemed to have noticed his seat was softer than usual, but didn't talk about it. I loosened my tie and leaned on the table with my elbow, yawning rather loudly as the smell of breakfast finally wafted through my nose. My eyes moved to see Sanji, working on the pancakes that were to be served to the rest of the pirates.

"Good morning, Attorney-san," My other hand raised a bit and writhed a bit. It was supposed to be a wave, but I was never really a giant fan of waking up with a flashlight in my face. It happened once, when Maya was quite annoyed that I wasn't getting up early enough to get the limited edition Steel Samurai doll that apparently only I could buy for her because she was too young to work. Or something…

"Morning," I replied as everyone settled down, although I was soon kicked from my seat when Usopp whined that about the fact that he sat there EVERYDAY! With a dejected look, I retired to the corner to go over the court records again. It was always good to be familiar with the evidence one had.

"So, what's the plan?" I looked up to see Sanji addressing me. He was handing me some pancakes, drizzled with syrup (although no butter, I'd have to go get THAT myself), "You know, you're not half bad, Wright. It's been a while since I've seen someone who lets EVERYONE walk all over him."

I took the plate with a grunt, "That's not true," I said, looking at the breakfast on the plate, "Hey! Where's my fork?"

"Get it yourself, chickenwuss," He replied, turning around to attend to Nami and Robin. Now, I wasn't going to take that sitting down! I stood straight up, raised my hand, and opened my mouth, "If you got something against me, then you can speak to my foot."

"I'll get it myself," I said quickly, trotting over to the table to pick up a few pieces of silverware. I didn't mind being called a chickenwuss as long as I kept the natural shape of my face.

"So, Nick, is there any help you need?" Chopper asked as I settled down to eat my breakfast.

"Well, first, I'd like someone to get off my over coat," I said. It was obvious to everyone but the person I was addressing who I was talking about. They all stared at Luffy, who looked down and gave a loud exclamation.

"OOOOOOH!" He said, standing up to pick up the now extremely wrinkled coat, "Sorry, Nick, I didn't notice,"

"It's… okay, but I think if people are going to see me as an actual attorney, it'll need to be ironed. It's all wrinkled!"

"Ironed…" Nami murmured. There was silence for a bit, as no one was stepping up for the job. It was obvious; I wasn't one of them, so it was only natural that they wouldn't want to do work for me.

Therefore, it came as a slight surprise that the captain took a thoughtful look at the coat and nodded, "I'll do it then, while you finish your food!"

"But… Luffy… you haven't eaten everyone else's share of the food!" Usopp cried. He then thought about it a moment, "And besides, you've never worked an iron…"

"I'll learn! Robin, come help me iron the coat!" Luffy said, rushing from the room, the coat in tow. The elder woman stood, a smile on her face, and she followed the captain from the room. Everyone turned slowly to stare at me as I dug into my food, looking at such things as the photo and a few testimonies out of the corner of my eye. I did know that they were looking at me, and I did my best to ignore them. I… guess they weren't used to their captain doing something like that for an outsider. Was that it? I'll just take that.

It took me a few minutes to finish my pancakes, and I stood to take care of the dishes. There, in the sink, were the dishes of everyone else, and I turned to them, "So… do I do my own dishes so the person on dish duty doesn't have to?"

The group stared at me, and suddenly Sanji smiled, "No, but you got cleaning duty next week."

It was a long time since I gave a genuine smile, "Alright, I will," Was my reply, turning to place my dishes in the sink. I wasn't exactly sure, but I think I was just invited into their "Frat House". The smile that had spread across my face began to widen. Luffy mentioned that his friends were "Nakama". Was I an official member now, I wonder…?

"Nick! I finished it! Robin helped out a lot!" Luffy burst through the door to the galley and thrust the coat at me. It was pretty good; Robin must have done most of the work. I slipped it on and fixed my tie, and pretty soon I was ready for investigations! Except for one thing… Something seemed missing…

"Attorney-san," Robin entered the galley behind me, holding something in her hand, "This was on your coat. I had to take it off to make sure Captain-San didn't do anything drastic."

"Ahhh, that's what was missing," I said, taking the tiny round badge from her hand. I applied it to my coat, and smiled, "Without this in my wor… Earth, no one would ever believe I was a defense attorney!"

"That's a badge for defense attorneys?" Luffy said, staring intently at the small, spherical gold plated object, "I want one now!" I began to sweat. I really wondered if Luffy would be able to devote 4 years of college (Not to mention a few more years of apprenticeship) to learning how to be an attorney just because of a little badge…

"Alright, I'm ready to go! See you all again!" I said, leaving the place with a wave, the court record tucked tenderly under my arm. It was kind of sad that I wasn't taking anyone else along, but I bet the only person who would volunteer for this kind of work was Luffy, and he was under house arrest (or was it "Ship arrest"?). Bail can be paid, but he was still suspected of murder…

Besides, I wasn't that close to the rest of them yet, so I couldn't just ask them to help out. I… wasn't that kind of person who needed to depend on others to get me out of this kind of thing; I've been a defense attorney for an entire year! I could do an investigation by myself, for once! Now, first of all, there was that man in town that sold Luffy those medicines. I'd better head over there first thing.

---

**January 19, 5:55  
No-Name Town  
Town Square**

By the time I got to the square, I could tell that no one in their right mind would be up and about. Perhaps I could have stayed back at the Going Merry and talked to the pirates a little more…

"Excuse me…" The hairs on the back of my neck rose when I heard that sickly sweet voice, "Are you lost, Wright-san?"

"Guuuh," I turned towards Sakura Tenshi, the only one really wandering about at this hour (Aside from me), "N… No… I just…"

"Is something the matter?" Sakura asked, jutting her hip out and placing her right hand, bandaged from her wrist to her elbow, upon the very hip. She used her other hand to stroke her chin, and I had to take a step back to steady myself, "Oh! You're investigating! Can I help you with it?"

"Wh… Why would you want to help me?" I asked incredulously. This woman had something up her sleeve, "You were the WITNESS, trying to get your own 'One True Love' indicted for murder!"

"They say you can let bygones be bygones, you know," The Mary Sue giggled, making me sweat a bit. That sounded a lot like Lotta, the photographer… "You can let me help! Come on, Wright-san, or…" she closed her eyes, creating dramatic tension. When she opened them, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck rise, "Or should I say, Ryu-chan…?"

"You… who ARE you?" I cried, backing into the square's fountain. I nearly fell backwards into the water. How… how could she know…? How could she know something I've been forgetting all these years…?

"You silly human…" Sakura flipped her hair back, and the shining blonde-with-natural-azure-highlights hair caught the sunlight and it shone brightly, "You don't understand that Mary Sues can learn anything they want. All you have to do is squeeze information from the right Fangirl…

"And you can learn the secrets of any MangaLandian known to man. Like how, when you were young and impressionable, at the tender age of 21… the eye of every person at Yuumei University was following you." When she noticed that I wasn't sure what she was talking about, she laughed a laugh that sounded of beautiful bells ringing in the sunlight, "She certainly is beautiful; it's almost as if she's… a Mary Sue…"

"Chii-chan was HUMAN!" I roared, slamming my foot down and staring the beautiful woman down. How DARE Sakura demean her? How dare she call his Chii-chan… less than human…?

"Ahhhh, so you remember your nickname for her, then," Sakura murmured, a sly smile crossing her face. Now that I think back, I think she was trying to pull this information out of me… I just couldn't tell at the moment, I was practically seeing red. It was one of the first times in my life that I felt this… angry, "And now I think you're remembering why you took this case in the first place. Didn't that orange haired navigator remind you of anyone?"

I quirked my eyebrow and my mouth moved to speak the name of the woman, "Na…mi…?"

---

_The woman stood on her tiptoes so she could whisper into my ear, "You need to remember my name forever, Ryu-chan, it's…_

"_Chinami…"_

---

"Chii-chan's name was Chinami…" I reeled at the thought. Was it true that seeing Nami made me think of that woman so long ago? But why would I ever forget about her? Why would I ever want to forget…?

---

"_Mia… Mia!" I cried. Mia Fey, the defense attorney, MY defense attorney, turned to me, and I sneezed loudly, "I..." I sniffed, "I can't believe it. I can't believe that was my Chii-chan on the stand! I can't believe that!"_

_I sneezed again, louder than before. This cold was getting worse without my cough syrup… "I… It couldn't have been the Chii-chan I knew all this time…"_

_Mia tapped her cheek, looking at me, the foolish looking young man who was sniffling from both sadness and sickness, and she solemnly shook her head, "Phoenix… It's… it's best you forget about Chinami. Overall, I think it… may help you."_

"_I… just wish…" I sniffed again, "That it didn't come to this…"_

---

"All those years ago, I did my best to forget about Chii-chan because of that one case. My future boss, the Chief, Mia… told me to forget about her… but why?" I pressed my knuckles against my temples in thought, "I can't remember!"

"Well, I hope that helped," Sakura murmured, looking away, "Ahhh, look, the town is livening up. Perhaps now it's time for us to go our separate ways? You to continue your investigation now…"

"Wait, do YOU know?" I took a step forward, my arm outstretched. I needed another clue, just one more clue, and I'd remember! "Sakura, please!"

"It's amazing…" She turned towards me, and that smile she gave reminded me of my Chii-chan… "You act just like you did around me than you did with Chinami. The question is, should I take advantage of that…?" And, without another word, she began to walk away, and she disappeared into the slowly growing crowd.

Gone… she was gone… and with her, the last piece of the puzzle. Worst part was, that was the biggest piece! I felt lightheaded, and I dropped onto the stone fountain, rubbing my hurting head. Sakura was right. I needed to get back to my investigation, but my mind was filled with thoughts of… HER… How could I do my work when my own memories were failing me?

"Oiiii! Nick, wait up!" That voice snapped me from my (Very… very… out of character) thoughts, and I was relieved when Usopp and Chopper (the two of them again?) caught up to me. Chopper was looking quite different, running around on all fours like a reindeer should. Perhaps he could transform? It probably had something to do with those "Devil Fruits" Sakura spoke of during yesterday's trial, "You know, you're not always this 'gung ho' about your job, are you? We wanted to come with you and see what you could do. You ran out before we could finish our breakfast!"

"I didn't ask you to come," I said, and although I didn't mean for it to sound dismissive, their downcast looks told me it did. Sighing, I smiled and said, "But… I'd like the company. If you don't mind."

"Really?" Chopper clapped his hooves together, "Great! We're the luckiest Straw Hats, we're the ones who get to watch Nick get Luffy off the hook!"

Usopp chuckled, "Yeah, you see, everyone else wanted to come along to see you in action. You know, it's all about the captain and all…" I began to sweat. Of COURSE they all wanted to come when I thought they wouldn't! My brilliant powers of deduction with the pirates didn't give me any confidence with deducing much else… "Nick? Something wrong?"

"N… No…" I replied, standing. I stretched a bit, memories of Chinami all but disappeared for such thoughts as investigations, "Well, first things first, I need to go check out that shop where Luffy got those surgery gloves. If we can get some clues there, then we may be able to crack this case open."

"Alright! Lead the way, Nick!" The two pirates said, urging me on. I smiled brightly as the three of us walked towards the medicine shop. It was more than a little exciting to feel like an attorney again. It always made me feel so alive!

---

**January 19, 8:19  
No-Name Town  
Medical Supplies 4 U**

"Are you here to buy some medicines?" The woman behind the counter asked, inspecting a bottle and placing it upon the counter. Chopper looked like he really wanted to take a look at the medicine, but I supposed that others were as used to seeing a human-reindeer as I was, "The name's Theresa Putic, but you can call me Thera. Can I help you with anything?"

I shook my head and leaned on the counter, folding my hands and twiddling my thumbs, "I just need some information, if you don't mind," The woman quirked an eyebrow, and looked even more confused when I flashed her my badge, still connected to my over shirt's collar. I sighed, "You've heard of that murder, right? A few days before? I'm the defense attorney for the case."

"And you need to talk to me?" The medicine woman said, now looking more confused, "But you aren't dressed like a Marine. How can you be affiliated with them?"

"Look, pal, I'll have you know I'm the most feared pirate…" I cut Usopp off quickly with a hand swipe right under his nose, and turned back to Thera.

"Marines don't have defense attorneys, either. I'm not affiliated with Marines," I gave her a sincere smile; "I'm only after… the truth!"

She whistled at me, her eyes a little wide. She then returned to normal and sighed, "Tough words for a world like this. The truth in this world is black and white, Pirates and Marines, respectively. But…" Thera drew the bottle away from the counter and pulled out a rag, buffing her workplace as she said, "I'm ready to give you whatever information you may need. We need more truth detectives nowadays." (Truth detective… I liked the sound of that…)

"Alright then," I said, "Tell me…" I cut myself off as I lifted myself from the counter so the medicine woman could wipe where my arms were just a second before, "About a young boy who walked in here on the 16th. He was wearing a straw hat. Do you remember?"

"You mean the boy that was threatening to break all the medicine bottles I owned?" She asked, rubbing hard on a particularly nasty spot that needed extra buffing, "Yeah, he was like a whirlwind, rushing around and shouting, 'My doctor needs this and this!'"

"So, what did he get?" I asked, thinking a bit, "When he left, what was it he left with?"

"Well, after practically breaking every bottle in here," Chopper seemed to have shuddered at that thought, "I finally found a few of the necessities that the doctor may have liked. The boy paid for them, and I threw in some surgeon gloves for free."

"About these gloves…" I continued, pressing the matter, "What did the straw hat boy think of them?"

"Well, he really wasn't all that interested in them," Thera replied, "He kept saying things like, 'Oh, that's the one thing my doctor won't need!' as if said doctor didn't have opposable thumbs or something!" Usopp and I looked down at Chopper, nodded, and then returned to listening to the woman, "Anyway, I thought that the gloves would be the only thing that would get to the doctor in one piece, seeing that kid's wild personality. That's probably the only reason I tossed them at him." She nodded, "And that's that!"

I nodded a bit in sync with her, but something seemed weird. If Luffy didn't want the surgeon gloves, then that means he must not have figured them into the day! If that was so, then perhaps that meant he never did use them to attack the Fangirl! "You've been a great help. Thanks so much for everything! Usopp, Chopper, we're out of here."

"Right!" Usopp said. He turned back to Thera and waved, "Thanks again!" And with that, we were gone from the shop, "So, Nick, what's next?"

"Back to the scene of the crime," I said, "I need to check for any clues left behind," I sighed, "But if Edgeworth is there still… I doubt we'll be able to get much…"

---

**January 19, 12:36  
1342 Wrong Way St.  
Back Alleyway**

"Still bloodied beyond possibility…" I muttered, shuddering involuntarily at the blood stains upon the ground, "Well, nothing new here, really. We'll just have to check a little harder than last time, alright?"

"Hold it right there," I felt a chill run up my spine when Edgeworth's voice called out to me. Whirling around rather quickly, I saw the former prosecutor, his nose slightly tilted towards the heavens, "Before you go snooping around, I need to tell you something."

"I'm sorry, Edgeworth," I said, "but I need to…"

"I need to tell you about this photo I got," He interrupted me, pulling something out of his over shirt's under pocket. I blinked when he showed it off to me, "I finally figured out how to make that thing give its information to me." He motioned skyward, and everyone's eyes followed. There, towards the top of a large house, was a strange snail-like creature. It looked rather… slow and sleepy… as if it were taking some sort of soporific drug.

"Ahhh, it's a recorder Den Den Mushi," Usopp said, nodding at it, "It's meant to take pictures for us. I think that one…"

"Was put up by the neighborhood to catch thieves on camera," Edgeworth finished for the pirate, not leaving him a chance to continue, "Which leaves us with this picture. I gave the picture to Tashigi for her to inspect, but I thought you may need it as well," I blinked at the man, and he continued, "So Gumshoe had a copy made, and I figured… you'd need to see it before the trial tomorrow,"

It was then that I finally got a good look at the photo Edgeworth had gotten for me. The color began to drain from my face. It… was a poor quality photo (the quality probably came from the poor muchi or den or whatever) of Luffy, who was facing away from the camera, standing over the prone body of Imra Bid, a katana sticking from her chest. The water was still in the potholes, and the skinny Luffy was wearing his normal cloths, a red monkey vest and a ragged pair of shorts. I knew exactly why Edgeworth thought I NEEDED to see this, "You're saying it's impossible…"

"I'm saying that it's time for you to accept that you're defending a murderer," Edgeworth replied, closing his eyes and drumming his fingers on his crossed arms, "Well, Wright?"

"I just… can't accept it…" I murmured, staring at the photo, "something's weird with this photo…"

"Luffy's missing his hat…" Usopp said, pointing at the character in the photo, "Luffy never leaves his hat alone, it's his treasure."

"It probably fell off somewhere," Edgeworth pointed out, his arms still crossed. Chopper and Usopp glared at the former prosecutor, "At least, that's what the prosecution will say. Never underestimate their ruthlessness when it comes to convicting someone they believe is guilty of a crime. Trust me; I know what they think…"

"Nick! Are you just going to let him talk to us that wa… Nick…?" Chopper tugged at my pant leg with his teeth when the doctor noticed that I was still staring at the picture, "Nick? What's wrong?"

"His arm…" I said, pointing at the arm in question, "His right arm… is covered in blood." I closed my eyes, trying to remember where I had seen something like this before. A right arm… with blood? I would have to keep that in mind, "Thanks a lot, Edgeworth, it means a lot to me."

"Don't thank me," He replied, "There are other kinds of evidence I gave to the prosecution that I'm not able to give to you. Tashigi's done with her work today, which means I am too. You're free to check this place out, then, because I doubt there will be much left for you to find," He turned around, and Usopp gave my friend a rude gesture. He hid it after Edgeworth turned back towards me, his eyes narrowed, "I don't need to tell you not to mess this scene up, but I'm saying it to THEM," He didn't point at the pirates. He didn't need to; we all knew who he was referring to, "If you change the scene of the crime in any way to help your captain's case, that's 'falsifying evidence'."

"I don't used falsified evidence," I said, explaining what Edgeworth was speaking about, "If I have to use false evidence to get someone an innocent verdict, I'd rather throw my badge into the garbage disposal."

"But… Nick…" Usopp looked at Edgeworth, and then back to me, "Don't YOU trust us?"

"Of course I do," I replied, smiling, "I was just telling you what Edgeworth meant, you see."

"Well then, Gumshoe's already retired for the day. I'm heading back to the Fangirl Order's hotel as well. Do you want another 'good luck'?" I smiled at him, and he closed his eyes quietly, "Very well, good luck to you, Mr. Wright."

"Thanks, Edgeworth," I replied with a professional nod, and then the former prosecutor rounded a corner and was gone.

"Well then, we're on our own here! Let's start looking around!" Usopp said. Chopper suddenly transformed into his tiny human form, right before my eyes. It freaked me out a bit, actually… Nevertheless, the three of us soon split up and searched the place. Hopefully they would find something, but with Gumshoe and Edgeworth looking over the place twice, anything that was left behind was probably purposeful…

"Hey! Nick, over here!" The doctor cried, "I think I found something!" The three of us surrounded the one last clue we got for the day. It was…

"Gloves… rubber surgeon gloves… all over the place…" I murmured. It was as if someone had flung them across the scene… something was definitely weird here… "I think we should take one or two along with us. It'll probably be of some use." And with that, I added the rubber gloves to the court record.

"Doesn't seem like there's anything else here," Usopp said, "Do you think this is enough?"

I looked at the stuff I had, and sighed, "It's all I really can work with. I'll have to make the best of it. I have to make this count tomorrow in court," I looked at Usopp and Chopper, smiling brightly, "Thanks, you two, you really helped me out."

"MORON!" Chopper shouted, smiling happily, "Sucking up to me won't work! You're such a jerk! I hate you! MORON!" I chuckled. He certainly looked happy…

The three of us left the scene quickly, but not silently. While I was busy thinking of what plans to enact during the trial tomorrow, the two behind me began conversing to themselves what outlandish plan I was going to enact during the trial tomorrow. Of course, 95 of them were completely bogus, and the other five percent was feasible. However, I would need something better than "feasible" to get Luffy off the hook. I would need something called "genius". I just wished that most of my "genius" moments didn't come about on the fly…

…

To Be Continued…

---

So, don't be like me. Don't forget!

Don't forget what? REVIEWING! Gah! Do I have to remember EVERYTHING? You guys seriously would be in big trouble if I did.


	5. Day 3: Gaiden at Night

This chapter is a gaiden. In other words, a side story, that really has no bearing on the actual story, it's slid in there to add some character to Phoenix Wright. This chapter was placed in so people who don't know about him can understand what drives him. It's parts like these in the games that shows off the characters' 3D personality, which makes me enjoy the series even more. Anyway, if you already know everything there is to know about the first adventure of Phoenix Wright, you really don't have to read this part of the story.

Also! I remembered something that I forgot last chapter. This paragraph refers to Chinami's nickname for Phoenix. Originally in Gyakuten Saiban, Phoenix's name was Naruhodo Ryuuichi. Therefore, Chinami called him Ryu-chan. Because Chinami has not officially appeared in any English game, she is still "Japaneseized", you see. Because of her name, it is simple to assume that she is at least half Japanese at the moment, and she is probably fluent in Japanese. I would assume Phoenix gave her the nickname "Chii-chan" to compliment his nickname. I have given the stitched up reason that Chinami calls Phoenix "Ryu" by claiming that she saw him as a forceful dragon who would never stop learning to be a defense attorney. I really cannot wait until the third installment of Gyakuten Saiban comes out here. I want to see Chinami's name in English.

I am sorry for the unofficial information and the slightly spoilerific parts that will be appearing, but I suppose is cannot truly be helped. Having a character whose name is so similar to a Straw Hat is just too much fun not to include within the story. Thank you for listening to my long ramblings, so I hope you have fun when you...

READ ON!

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 3: Gaiden at Night

**January 19, 9:34  
Going Merry Go**

That night, I avoided unnecessary noise on the Going Merry Go after dinner. I was trying to find any clues with the provided evidence in the court record. Of course, everywhere on the Going Merry was too loud to work, so it surprised Robin when she found me in the one place Luffy's loud voice wouldn't reach me, "What are you doing in the crow's nest, Attorney-san?"

I looked up at her, yawning a bit, "Oh… I was just… working…"

"This late?" She asked, noticing how tired I looked, "You really should go to bed, Attorney-san. We're all relying on you to get Captain-san acquitted."

"I need to finish this up," I replied, not telling her what up I needed to finish, "Besides, shouldn't you be going to bed then, Robin?"

"I… am watch for tonight," She said, "We pirates have to make sure we aren't attacked in the middle of the night." I nodded, understanding the reason, but not empathetic with the way pirates worked.

"Well then, I guess I could be the watch too. Go to bed, I'll work alone out here."

Robin looked away, her eyes looking wistfully, "You don't know the real meaning of being alone." That moment, I could see the horrible weight she had on her shoulders…

I didn't really know if it would cheer her up, but I answered either way, "Actually…" She turned back towards me, and I continued, "That's not really true… It may not have been as bad as you experienced, but there was one time… I was alone…

"It was… about sixteen years ago. I was in the fourth grade," She gave me a look, and I explained, "Um… I was nine at the time. During PE, Physical Education, that is, I was sick, and couldn't run track with the other kids. It was at that time while I was in the nurse's office that one of my classmates' lunch money disappeared, all 38 dollars of it. Because I was the only one who wasn't at class, I was the one suspected for its theft."

"Obviously, you didn't take the money?" Robin asked, a smile appearing on her lips from the story.

"Of course I didn't!" I said, a little hurt that Robin even had to ask, "I was sure that when they even held a court case for me, with a defense attorney, a prosecution, and the teacher being the judge, I'd be found innocent. However, even my 'attorney' joined in with the class to jeer at me. They told each other to stop playing with me. People accused me of stealing money I had borrowed beforehand. I couldn't do anything but cry. Finally, the judge… my teacher, told me to apologize to the boy who had his lunch money stolen. I dejectedly walked to the boy, amongst the jeering and roaring of the class, telling me I was a monster." Robin just looked at me as I continued, "Before I could tell him I was sorry, however, there was a shout of 'Objection!'" I noticed later that I was pointing dramatically, and Robin smiled a bit at my acting, "Edgeworth, who was one of my classmates then, was standing from his seat, pointing accusingly at the teacher, 'You can't tell him to apologize to me for something he didn't do!' he said."

"How did he know you didn't do it?" Robin wondered.

"He didn't," I replied, "But I believe his words were, 'you can't convict a person without evidence. Even novices know that!' I never had the money on me, and aside from the testimony that I wasn't at PE, there wasn't any evidence against me. I… I was… let off because of him. It was because of him that I wasn't shunned by the class for the rest of my school year." I looked up at the woman, and I could tell by her face that my story was nothing like the hardship she must have gone through when she was all alone. I sighed, "It was then that I felt it. I felt what it meant like to be truly alone, with not a friend in the world, no one to help you, to back you up… I promised myself I would work hard to make sure no one else felt that way…"

Robin began to nod slowly as I continued, "I became a defense attorney so I could acquit those whom had been abandoned by everyone else. Those who were abandoned and alone…"

"Attorney-san…" I looked up, and saw Robin as she looked at the crescent moon within the sky, "I wish I had the same ideals you did… but our world isn't like yours. Things don't work that way…"

"Then I'll change it," I said, determination as thick as Luffy's in my voice, "This world, and every other world in this 'MangaLand', should be judged fairly, no matter who stands in the way!"

I stopped holding my pen up in the air when I heard soft clapping from the woman, still sitting on the side of the crow's nest. I blinked at her, and she smiled, "It's rather fun listening to you," She said, shining a sincere smile that lifted my spirits, "You sound much like Captain-san…" I looked away, blushing a bit from embarrassment, and she only continued, "Now then, we've both established that we don't like being alone, so move over, and tell me what I can help with."

I pretended to look annoyed, and shuffled to the side, allowing Robin to sit next to me, "Alright then, how about we start with this…" The night went quickly as the two of us worked, and although Robin seemed only around to keep the lamp from running out of kerosene, I could tell she was intent on listening to my approach to the evidence before me. She was ever a scholar, to the very end… I just wished that I could have had someone as calm and collected as her sitting in the defendant's seat. It would probably be much easier than having her captain there instead…

…

To Be Continued…

---

I really hope you enjoyed it, whether you knew about the story or not.

I guess reviewing here would be nice or something...


	6. Day 4: Trial

Alright, two things. One is that this trial day was more like the game than the first. You know, random jokes for no real reason? Also, I hope you don't mind the stuff at the bottom. If you haven't played the game, there's nothing for you to... you know... know... because it's referancing the first Phoenix Wright game, and it's foreshadowing the second Phoenix Wright game. so yeah... there's no reason to spoil everything, unless you're going to cry if you don't. So just ask in a review if you want some added knowledge of what's going on, or just get the game (Gasp) and play it yourself.

Also, this one is long. Really long. Mostly because I couldn't find a place to cut it in half like the last one. So I hope you don't mind longness! Have fun!

So, without further ado:

READ ON!

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 4: Trial

**January 20, 5:51  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Defendant Lobby No. 2**

"Good luck, Nick!" I yawned a bit as Luffy stared straight at me, eyes practically hot enough to burn my retinas as I lay on the couch in the defendant lobby, "you're going to do great, I know it!"

"Oh, you do, do you?" I muttered, mouth widening to cavernous proportions as I blinked sleepy eyes. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up so late looking at that court record… I glanced at my watch and after realizing the time, sat up to stretch, "Well, thanks for the waking me up, anyway, it's about time we head in…" I grabbed my overcoat, which was slung over the couch, and wandered over towards the courtroom door. Turning, I saw that Luffy wasn't following, "Hey, Luffy, we're due in five minutes. If you're late, people tend to get suspicious of your involvement in the murder."

"Oh! You mean I have to GO in there?" The captain asked, his look of surprise as sincere as a church mouse on Christmas.

"Zoro had to! What makes you any different? You have to sit in the defendant's seat and watch as I use what I have to hopefully get you free!"

"Oh…" Luffy muttered, "But that looked pretty boring…" He sighed, "Alright then, let's go…" He brushed by me, and I smiled a little at the boy. I looked back down at my watch and gasped at the time, "Luffy, come on! Hurry!"

---

**January 20, 6:00  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Courtroom No. 3**

The courtroom quieted when the gavel was brought down and the Fangirl Judge continued the trial that was held off a couple of days ago, "Court is now in session for the trial of Monkey D. Luffy, the defendant of the Imra Bid murder case. Everyone got that?" The audience nodded in sync, "Good, good. Now then, are we all everyone ready today?"

"The Prosecution is ready, Your Honor," Tashigi said, her confidence was soaring; I could tell from the way her chest was puffing out. Needless to say, I was a little… intimidated myself from that look.

"The Defense… is ready, Your Honor," I spoke, nevertheless. I couldn't show any weakness in front of her, or she'd attack me harder and more ruthlessly than even now…

Tashigi adjusted her glasses, her smile brightening the room, "My opening statements are this: I have sufficient evidence to prove that Monkey D. Luffy is just what any pirate is, a liar and a murderer!" Her eyes flashed angrily at Luffy, who smiled at me even as I sweated. Damn, she really WAS a good prosecutor! I wonder if she got pointers from Edgeworth…?

"Well then, what type of evidence do you have?" The Judge asked.

"Don't worry, Your Honor," She said smugly, entwining her fingers together and holding her head up upon them, "I have a great witness which will add to the evidence we already possess." I blinked at her, and she continued, "Theresa Putic…"

"The woman who runs the medicine shop?" I wondered aloud, stroking my chin, "She was called to be a witness…?" (But when? Did Theresa know about being subpoenaed even after I arrived at her shop…? Something weird is going on here, and I'm going to get to the bottom of this!)

The middle aged woman took the stand. She still had that same bottle and the rag in her hand. When Tashigi was about to ask for the woman's name and profession, Thera cut her off, "Quiet! I need to have a word with the Fangirl Judge here!" The Judge blinked at the witness, who was tapping her fingers against the podium, "Look at this poor, grimy piece of crap! It probably hasn't been waxed in years!"

"Two, really…" The Judge replied, nodding sagely, "that was when the court was first built." Thera scoffed and pulled out her bottle.

"Well then, you really need to get this fixed up! But don't worry; my lemon-and-cinnamon-y fresh bottle of scuff reducer will take care of it!" She dumped some of the contents of the bottle onto the rag and started buffing the podium happily. It made me wish she would do it with my desk… "So, Tashigi, was it? What is it that you want to know?" The medicine woman asked brightly.

Tashigi seemed to like the smell of the scuff reducer (indeed, most of us in the courtroom felt tensions reduce right there. Theresa sure lived up to her name…), and started the questioning, "Your name and profession, please."

"Ahh yes, Tashigi-san. My name is Theresa Putic, but my friends usually just call me 'Thera'. I own the shop 'Medicines 4 U'. I really didn't think up the name. It was a rather funny Fanboy who thought of it. I forgot his name though…" No one seemed to have noticed she was rambling. They were too busy taking deep breaths of the wonderfully smelling concoction Thera had mixed together.

"Ahhh, Oh yes!" The prosecutor said, finally realizing that they should continue, "Please, instead of the store's name, we would like to know about the defendant. When did he enter your store?"

"Huh?" Thera asked, looking up from a particularly nasty spot that she was scrubbing heavily, "Oh, yeah, I'll tell you what I can," She reached up and slapped the rag over her shoulder so she could speak her testimony:

"Well, on that day, I was working hard, scrubbing down my counter, when he came in."

"It was that boy with the straw hat; the one sitting there." She pointed at Luffy to elaborate, "He wanted to buy some medicinal supplies for his doctor, he said."

"He nearly broke everything I had, and I wouldn't be able to handle such a mess! I got some necessary items together and threw in some surgeon gloves."

"After that, the boy thanked me and took the bag of supplies and the box of gloves. Then he left the shop."

"Alright, so that means you did see the defendant in the possession of surgery gloves," The Judge said as Thera went back to work scrubbing the podium down, "Well then, Mr. Wright, are you ready to cross-examine the witness?"

There really wasn't anything to contradict here. Everything seemed like the truth, but perhaps I could press some extra information out of her. I nodded solemnly and placed my hands on the desk before me, "I am, Your Honor."

Thera smiled at me as I started my first question, "Alright then, witness. Can you tell me if the defendant was with anyone?"

"Huh?" Thera blinked, obviously confused at what this entailed, "Like…"

"Someone of the feminine variety?" I asked, elaborating on my question that Imra was with Luffy in the shop. I had half a mind to make curving motions with my hands, but doing that for a woman seemed like a stupid idea. The witness nodded, finally understanding, although the prosecution looked pretty annoyed at my words ("Hopefully this will go the way I expect it to," I moaned in my mind). Thera answered with the utmost of kindness.

"Sorry, no. He came in all by himself," The medicine woman replied with a faint smile on her lips, "and all he talked about was his doctor. I don't think he was with anyone. Unless… his doctor is a woman?"

There was a murmur among the audience, and some of the Fangirls in the audience turned to Chopper, who was hiding his face. I began to sweat when I realized this line of questioning would only get me in trouble if I continued. Suddenly, the next part hit me, and I slammed my hands down on the desk, "I need to know something very important, Ms. Thera. What happened with Luffy after he left?"

"Objection!" Tashigi said, looking a little irritated, "The defense doesn't need to know everything about the witness' personal life!"

"But it has something important to do with the case!" I countered with a finger point, despite the fact that I was lying through my teeth. The two of us turned to the Judge, who sighed.

"Overruled," Judge said after much deliberation, "But, Mr. Wright, we don't have forever. If we find out you're lying about this question's importance…" The sweat was already falling down my face, "The consequences can, and will, be severe."

"You're still going to go through with it?" Tashigi asked, staring me down. It was obvious she knew I was feeling rather faint. Shaking my head, I cleared my fuzzy brain and slammed my hands down on the desk. ("I have NO idea why I'm doing this," I thought to myself, "but I've solved plenty of cases by playing by ear.") I then realized that lying to MYSELF was probably the most moronic thing to do at the moment, ("Alright, really, I haven't played ANY cases by ear, but there's a first time for everything!")

"Your Honor, the defense is certain that this is the most direct and useful line of questioning at this moment." I gave a sigh of relief as the Judge nodded, not noticing the fact that I was trying my hardest not to stutter.

Tashigi shut up about her objections, and instead looked away, waiting for the time that I would screw up. Thera turned back to me, smiling, "About the boy? I saw him out, actually."

"Your Honor…"

"I know, I know," The Judge replied before I could make my request. She yawned a bit and went to address the witness, "Miss Thera. Could we have a testimony of what you saw after the defendant left your shop?"

Thera was on her side, rubbing the podium from the side, and once the Judge gave her request, she popped her head up, and smiled. She placed the rag upon her shoulder once again, and started up her next testimony:

"Well, after the defendant was finished with his stuff, he started out. He was waving at me and calling out 'Thanks for everything, Lady!'

"After that he started out the door, and I followed him to the door and even waved after him as he rushed off.

"I then gasped as he ran into a young woman.

"She was kinda young, but she looked like she was training to be a swordswoman.

"After they picked themselves up, they rushed off together, laughing. Supposing they were together; I went back inside to rebuff my counter."

"Uh…" Thera looked in my direction, and I sweated a bit hoping beyond hope that there was something else I could work with, "There's… nothing else?"

"Nope!" The woman said, her absolutely sure smile making my stomach tie up in knots, "You wanted to know about what happened after Mister Luffy bought his stuff. That's about it. After the two rushed off, I returned to my work."

"Mr. Wright…" Tashigi muttered, crossing her arms, "this… has…" She slammed her hand down on the desk angrily, and I could practically see her nostrils flaring, "NOTHING to do with this case! You lied in court to buy…"

"OBJECTION!" I shouted, pointing at the prosecution even as she continued her rant, "You didn't even let me continue my line of questioning! Perhaps the prosecution could please wait until I'm FINISHED with my cross examining the witness?"

"Objection sustained," The Judge said, "But please, be QUICK, Mr. Wright?" I nodded, sweating bullets. Damn, that was close! Now, I had to find a way to protect Luffy and find myself innocent of wasting time myself!

"The matter is simple, Your Honor," I said, once I had collected my thoughts. Turning to Thera, I asked the one question I would need to know for this cross examination, "This woman that Luffy ran into was by no doubt a swordswoman, witness?"

"Indeed," Thera replied, dropping back down to take care of the bottom of the podium. The courtroom could hear her grumbling about how she was running out of solution, which made everyone's heart sink a bit, "She was definitely a swordswoman. She had a katana at her hip, and it looked like she would never part with it."

"So then," I said, rubbing my chin in thought, "unless this woman that the defendant ran into was the prosecution," Tashigi hissed under her breath as I continued, "Then it is very safe to assume that this woman was," I slammed my hands down on the table, and I felt a wave of relief flow over me as the camera panned down to close up on my face, even completing the image by adding a swooshing background (Finally, my chance to shine in the spotlight!), "Imra Bid, the victim of our case!"

"OBJECTION!" The prosecutor cried, pointing at me with wide eyes. Perhaps she knew where I was going with this, "Tha… you can't say that without doubt! It's only speculation!"

"OBJECTION!" I pointed back at the woman across from me, "Perhaps I could ask you, a swordswoman, Ms. Tashigi. How many swordswomen are in this world, you know, compared to males?" I pointed behind me towards Zoro, "Surely… there are… at least a fifty-fifty ratio between the sexes, aren't there?"

"N…" I could see that Tashigi was trying her hardest not to lie, "No… definitely not…"

The Judge was about to speak up, but as I continued, she decided to watch and see where this went to. After all, no one was objecting at the moment, "And you would say that the ratio between male and female swordspeople are…?"

"N… Ninety-eight to two…" Tashigi gnashed her teeth as she finished, "Respectively…" In a desperate attempt to keep the heat off of her and her case, she spoke up loudly next, "But this…"

"And No-Name Island is not KNOWN for female swordspeople, IS IT?" I interrupted, slamming my hands on my desk to stop the woman from continuing further. It wasn't hard to be forceful when you'd already built up so much steam. Tashigi looked like she was swallowing her tongue, and I continued, "So, most likely, this was not just another swordswoman. Since women of the sword are rare, it is SAFE… to ASSUME… this was Imra Bid, the victim. Is the defense right, Prosecution?"

"I… the defense is… right… Mr. Wright…" Tashigi finally said, relinquishing her objections (and even added a little accidental pun in, as well!) I won this battle, but definitely not the war, as she instantly started up with another question, "But… what bearing does this have on the case, anyway?"

I shook my head, and smiled, placing my hands on my hips, my smile returning, "Oh, it has everything to do with the case. You see, it was at that moment that Luffy ran into Imra, which means that they hadn't met beforehand!"

"But the witness clearly stated that she assumed they were together!" Tashigi cried, slamming her hands on the desk.

"OBJECTION!" I shouted, "Wasn't it YOU who said we shouldn't speculate? It was stated yesterday that the defendant did not know of the victim's existence until the day she was murdered. This moment in time was obviously their first meeting. The biggest thing THIS has to do with the case," I needed to keep going. I needed to make sure nothing stopped me as I continued. I slammed my hands down on the desk to keep the prosecution from interrupting, and the camera panned down to close up on me (Twice in one day! I must be on fire!), "Is the simple fact that the defendant already HAD the surgeon's gloves BEFORE he met the victim!"

There was plenty of murmuring in the crowds from this revelation, and the Judge had to slam her gavel down repeatedly to keep them quiet, "Order! Order in the court! Jeez, you'd think that every time something new happens, you're given express permission to talk to yourselves during the trial!"

"So… you're saying that the defendant had no intention of killing Imra just because had the gloves before he met her?" Tashigi scoffed, and crossed her arms, a smile crossing her face. After all this time, I thought I had caught her, but seeing her smile made me sweat, and I gulped ("NOW what does she have up her sleeve…?" I wondered… "WAIT!"). I came to the conclusion of my question before Tashigi continued; so when she spoke, it took everything I had to keep from passing out, "Two things such as THESE, Your Honor!"

Tashigi was referring to the two clues that the investigations and I had found at the scene of the crime, "Ohhhh!" The Judge proclaimed, "It's a picture of the defendant standing over Imra Bid!" She then looked up at the audience with a growl before they began their mumbling, and she returned to the other piece of evidence, "A…"

"…Box," Tashigi elaborated as the judge looked over the box that seemed to have been ripped a bit at the top, where an opening was supposed to be to allow the owner to pull out whatever was within it, "A cardboard box that once held…"

"AHHHH!" Thera's head had just popped back up from the podium (If any forgot, she was crawling around on her hands and knees to buff the witness stand at the bottom), and smiled, "That's the box that I had given to the straw hat boy! It's…"

"…Empty…" The Judge said, inspecting the inside of it, and even picking it up to shake it so she could support the claim, "There's not one glove within it. That must be because…"

"…They were tossed about the scene of the crime that night," I answered (Because if everyone's going to finish everyone else's sentences, I should join in as well!) "They seemed to have been thrown about as if it was a game."

"Indeed," The prosecution continued her point, "These pieces of evidence are proof that the defendant was the one who stabbed the victim that day!"

"But why wasn't this picture brought into evidence on the first day?" The Judge asked. Tashigi gulped a bit.

"The… investigator… Detective Gumeshoe… did not understand how to get the Den Den Mushi to work…" She replied, and I sweated a bit when there was a grumble from the audience, mostly coming from the Straw Hats behind me. Poor Gumshoe must have been trying his hardest to sneak out the back now. It was then that the prosecutor slammed her hands down on the desk, "But despite this fact, it remains clear that this person is indeed the defendant, Monkey D. Luffy. I doubt the defense can object to that!"

("Damn!" I whined, "She's right!"). The Judge seemed to be staring at the picture, and she looked at me, "Well, Mr. Wright? Can you prove the person in this photo is not the defendant? Although…" She scoffed at the photo, "You have to be some kind of magician to pull something like THIS off."

"Actually, Your Honor!" I proclaimed, placing my hands on my hips, my smile returning, "I once got second place in the talent show after sawing my friend Larry in half!"

"Really?" Tashigi questioned, a smile gracing her face, "Well then, are you going to make evidence pop out of your sleeves like doves?" She obviously was making fun of me from her evil smirk.

My cocky grin didn't leave, "I do believe that my objection to this new evidence will show you that I don't need doves to prove my client's innocence!" Edgeworth and I had gone through this before, but since there was not much else to object to, I had to grab what I could, "The defendant is the LAST person who could be in this photo!"

"Mr. Wright, please," The Judge said, drumming her fingers against the desk, "I think your doves have strangled themselves on the way out of your sleeve." Thera (I just realized she was still there, getting front row seats of all the action) giggled at the Judge's words, and I sweated buckets.

"Your Honor, just take a look at the photo," I said, "Look at what the person in the photo is NOT wearing!"

"Huh?" The court fell silent, and I gagged when I realized what eighty-five percent of them were thinking, "NO! I mean, look at his HEAD! He's not wearing a straw hat!"

"Huh? Oh, it does seem to be bare. He's not wearing his straw hat."

"Your Honor," I said with a smile, "You can't very well be 'Straw Hat Luffy', captain of the 'Straw Hat Pirates', without a straw hat, can you?"

"OBJECTION!" Tashigi shouted, and I could tell she was going in the direction that Edgeworth spoke of yesterday, "The straw hat is irrelevant. It could have been dropped off at another…"

"OBJECTION!" The entire courtroom gasped, as that voice did NOT belong to me. Everyone turned to the defendant, Luffy, who took off his hat, "I had Nami attach a string to my straw hat to make sure it wouldn't fall off, so…"

"Defendant!" Luffy winced, gulped and looked up at the Judge as she glowered down upon the young man, "Unless you want to represent yourself in court, you must remain quiet. No further outbursts such as those are allowed, do you understand?"

Luffy looked a little annoyed at these words, but decided not to press the issue; probably for my sake. He reapplied his hat and nodded, "Yeah, I understand."

"And now, back to where we left off," The Judge turned to Tashigi, "If the prosecution would continue…?"

"OBJECTION!" This time the roar came from me. I decided to pick up where Luffy left off. That seemed to be the best way to counter the prosecution's assertions, "The defendant's straw hat has a string on it so it wouldn't fall off needlessly!"

"Please, Mr. Wright, is that all?" The Judge shook her head, "Circumstantial evidence like that is only going to get you so far…"

I began to think, rubbing my chin in thought. Something strange was also in this photo. The blood along the killer's arm… It was then I suddenly looked at Luffy, and saw that his arm was perfectly fine… Thinking back, I wondered who could have had such a terrible gash on an arm, and I suddenly roared in realization, "GAHHHHHK!"

The courtroom was all on me, "Mr. Wright?"

"I've got it!" I shouted, making the Judge blink at me for interrupting her, "It must be! It must be! There is one other thing!"

"Another… thing…?" Even Tasigi seemed surprised. She attempted to calmly adjust her glasses, but even I could tell she was put off and wanted some information, "Just what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the person's arm in this photo," I replied, calmly tapping the photo in question, "Look at the blood all over this person's arm."

"Obviously…" Tashigi murmured, "The victim's blood…"

"But there is too much blood on just ONE arm to be anything but a wound in of itself! Also, it is exactly the same wound that belonged to someone else who stood in this courtroom two days before!" I shouted, slamming my hands on the desk, "This wound belongs to another person!"

I pointed dramatically, finally feeling relief that I had figured this case out, "and that other person is SAKURA TENSHI, the Mary Sue!"

"K… KYAAAAAAAN!" Tashigi reeled at such a thought, "M… Mr. Wright, you can't…"

"Come now, Ms. Tashigi," I said politely, or at least, as politely as I could as I tapped the photo, "The defendant's build is not nearly as masculine as, say, Zoro's (or perhaps mine, if I do say so myself), so if you were to look at this photo, with these clothes, it's nearly impossible to see if the person in this photo is female or male (although, these legs look definitely feminine…)! Sakura must have applied a wig and cloths that looked similar to the defendant, with the attempt to frame the captain!" I rubbed my chin in thought, "Perhaps the Mary Sue has something against Luffy…?"

"O… O…" Tashigi tried her hardest to object, and finally did so, "Objection! You can't possibly decide to pin the blame on someone else NOW! We've already changed the suspect from Zoro to Luffy!"

"If I recall," I said in thought. Then I pointed dramatically at the prosecution, "You were the one who changed the suspect in the first place, Ms. Tashigi!"

She hissed under her breath as the Judge nodded, "But really, Mr. Wright, that's the prosecution's JOB. Your job isn't to point fingers randomly about…"

"Indeed," Tashigi muttered under her breath, taking a handkerchief to wipe the sweat that had accumulated along her brow.

"However, under these circumstances…" The Judge continued with a curt nod, making Tashigi sweat even more, "It is impossible to convict the defendant, as there is still room for doubt. I want the two of you to find some decisive evidence that will convict SOMEONE tomorrow. Oh, and, Tashigi? Could you subpoena Ms. Sakura just one more time? I do believe she would enjoy testifying here under enough persuasion."

"Y…" Tashigi looked like she was going to break down, "Yes, Your Honor…" Tashigi then composed herself and glared in my direction, "but be careful, Mr. Wright," She pointed at me with a furrowed brow, "Marines are meant to get Pirates convicted and executed. No way I'm giving up Monkey D. Luffy's head THIS early on! If not, the captain (She must have meant that "Smoker" man) would have MY head!"

I began to sweat, "Ye… yes… the defense is duly noted…"

The Judge smiled and nodded to herself, "Well then, it seems like we cannot continue this trial any further. The court will be in recess until two days from now! Court is adjourned!" And with that, the gavel was brought down.

---

**January 20, 7:03  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Defendant Lobby No. 2**

There was tapping on the floor of the lobby, and Edgeworth had his arms crossed in anger after the investigators joined Luffy and I after the trial, "Despite what you say…" He murmured.

It always made me feel a little better to know my friends and I were on the same page, which is why I felt a little bad as the foot's tapping continued, "Edgeworth, can't you see?"

"I refuse to believe it," He replied matter-of-factly, his haughty air not changing, "I refuse to believe that he could be…"

"Edgeworth…"

"This… FREAK…" The former prosecutor pointed directly at the contorting captain (Who was putting on a show for Gumshoe), "cannot be innocent. I refuse to believe a PIRATE… could be the only one who did NOT murder someone…"

I didn't deny Edgeworth his new title for Luffy, who seemed almost to be made of rubber (By the Devil Fruit, no less), but I could not let him slander my client in such a way as that, "Edgeworth…" I began to sigh; I didn't want to talk to him like this… we had both been through so much… "It's just that… everyone deserves a fair trial."

Edgeworth scoffed, "One day, Wright, you are going to eat those words." I looked at him expectantly, and the former prosecutor looked away. It appeared like he didn't want to continue this conversation as much as I. I was about to feel relaxed, but I went on guard when he sucked in a deep breath and spoke again, "Even so, you don't know what this is about…"

"So what is it about?" I asked, splaying my arms out as if to examine the world and everything in it, "Is it your pride? Your pride as a prosecutor? To convict everyone you believe may be guilty? We've been through this before," I pointed at him with an air that I most certainly did not usually possess, "there are innocent people you sent to jail because of your actions."

"I never regretted a thing!" He shouted, making Gumshoe and Luffy stop to look at the two of us, bickering like we once did on the playground, "I don't regret having to take extreme measures to get those monsters convicted. Serial killers who have murdered half a dozen people… I HAD to do something! If Joe Darke was sent free… The blood of everyone he would kill next would be on MY hands!"

"So that's it? You're bringing up the SL-9 case again. We all know that the fabricated evidence wasn't your fault," Luffy certainly had no idea what was going on, but I really didn't want to explain the nature of that bloodbath to him anyway, no matter what he said he went through on his adventures, "But you went downhill from there, Edgeworth. In your attempt to fight crime, you really ended up assisting those who wanted to use you to control the courts. Couldn't you realize…?"

"SHUT UP!" "Cold as Ice" Edgeworth finally cracked under hot water, making Gumshoe cry out in worry ("Hey, Pal!" The detective shouted at me, "Leave him out of this!"), "I had to leave, I had to leave my duties because of everything that happened. After what they said, after what happened… I couldn't do it anymore."

"Edgeworth…" I murmured, glaring straight at him, the prosecutor whose life may have been worse than mine. Maybe even worse than Robin's (I wouldn't know, I didn't know what Robin went through, after all)… but there was one thing that separated him from us, "Why don't you ask for help…? Gumshoe and I are both here to back you up. No one should be doing this alone…"

"Yeah, Pal…" Gumshoe said, smiling, "Mr. Wright here was able to defend you during that case two years ago, and I did whatever I could to find the evidence to help protect you. We're willing to help you, even now."

"I thank you for the offer…" Edgeworth murmured, rubbing his arm and turning away, "But… I think this is something I need to figure out on my own."

"Edgeworth…"

"Wright…" He pointed at me, his eyes filled with malice, "You… of all people… I cannot ask… I'll find it on my own." It was then that he turned to Gumshoe, and his face softened, just a bit, "And I thank you for your help, but I'm not really cut out to be an investigator… I thank you for attempting to find me a new line of work, Gumshoe."

"You're welcome!" He replied with a smile, trying to avoid the heated debate that was present in the lobby.

I reached out to the man as he turned to leave. I couldn't let him leave on this note. It didn't matter if he was going to run around the world, or all of MangaLand, to search for himself or whatever. We were having a conversation NOW, and if he left now… before the two of us were finished… "Edgeworth, you can't go. You can't go now. If you do, I…"

"What…?" He turned only slightly, to look at me, "You'll do what?" There was nothing to say. The emotion that welled within me towards him could not be expressed in words. The closest I could say… was that it felt like hatred to the man who once inspired me to be an attorney. Taking my silence as the answer, he wordlessly left; the silence he left behind was deafening.

"I…" I stared at the retreating figure of the former prosecutor, the man whose lessons I tried to teach fell on deaf ears, "I've been betrayed…"

"Well…" Gumshoe said, laughing. He didn't hear my words, which was all well and good, seeing as how I didn't want anyone to hear them anyway, "I'm just glad to see that Edgeworth is well! Back on our home, he disappeared so suddenly most people thought he was murdered!"

"Yeah, Nick! Don't take it too hard, he'll come back," Luffy replied, smiling. I turned to him, and he elaborated, "You're friends, right? You two will make up in no time."

"I…" I looked at the doorway that Edgeworth left out of, that was even now filled with six eager Straw Hat Pirates, ready and waiting to talk about the case, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, "Thanks… Luffy…"

…

To Be Continued…

---

Awwww, so kawaii! Or something... Anyway, a review would be nice. Thanks.


	7. Day 5: Investigation

Alright everyone, this is the last "Investigation" day of this story. After that, it's all trial and a little easter egg for you at the end, for everyone who read through to the end. Thanks for reading, you all make me wish that I was actually getting money for this. Uh... yeah... CoughPhoenixWrightandOnePiecedon'tbelongtomedon'tsueIdon'tgetmoneyfromthisreallyCough. Also, I have a few things I need to speak to you about.

First of all, if you guys actually CARE about playing Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney, then let it be known that this story possesses spoilers to the first case of the third Gyakuten Saiban game, which has not even been made on Nintendo DS (although you can find a GBA rom of it in Japanese). If you don't like spoilers, I'm sorry, but to make this story more dramatic and angsty (Because I at least a little practice, dangit), I kinda had to put it in. Also, I never actually got permission to use my friend's username, "Fighting Comet". CoughFightingCometisnotmycreationbuttheusernameofoneofmyfriendsCough. ANNNNYWAY, I have something else to tell you, before someone screamed "OBJECTION!" at me.

I WILL probably be redoing this entire thing, going over it, altering it, and stuff like that, AFTER I'm done with this story. You see, cannonly, this story cannot take place from January 17th to January 22nd. This is because of the simple fact that this takes place inbetween Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All. The original "Gyakuten Saiban" (Ace Attorney) on GBA ends at December 28 and Justice for All begins at June... 15th... I think? Now, this would not be BAD, but Ace Attorney's fifth Episode, a filler with extras and stuff, was added, and this time took place in FEBRUARY. And everytime you see the words "Lana/Ema Skye" and "Detective Goodman", and "The Chief of Police" in this story, you will see that these characters being spoken about come from that fifth case, which means in this story it's supposed to be canon, which means the story CANNOT take place in January. I am REALLY sorry for leading all of you astray like little rats or something. After I am finished with this story and start redoing the whole thing, I will make this story take place inbetween Late February and Middle June. Please, do not mind the canon inconsistancies for now, they really don't RUIN the story. Just thought it'd be nice for you to know now.

And now that I have gotten your forgiveness:

READ ON!

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 5: Investigation

**January 21, 1:25  
Going Merry Go  
Galley**

It was not a good time to wake up. Definitely not. It was still dark out, and I was trying to get some sleep. So when I felt someone walking across my stomach, I figured my hopes that the day was going to go well were shattered. So much for that… "Ouch! Luffy! What are you doing?" I moaned just loud enough for the captain to hear my cries.

"Nick?" The captain stared down at me, splayed across the floor in spread eagle formation. I didn't remember falling asleep in this position… right in front of the refrigerator… The same one that Sanji was just last night growling about Luffy sneaking into every night… Ahhh, so that was it. I was the giant mouse trap replacement because the cook had run out of them (from Luffy breaking them with his unnatural strength), "What are you doing here?"

"I like sleeping next to the food," I lied, just like a few days ago, sitting up after Luffy got his foot off of me. I yawned a bit and looked at the captain, "So… you raiding the fridge?"

"Yeah, I'm a little late for my midnight snack," He laughed, "But now I guess I was caught… hey… do you mind?"

"Go ahead," I said, sliding out of the way. That'll show Sanji for dragging me across the room to save his precious ingredients. As Luffy gorged himself on the food in the fridge, I searched about for my over shirt before he splattered it with foodstuffs. I finally found it with the light of the fridge, and started straightening it out. It was then that I saw something strange. There, on the captain's left arm, was something black. It was small "X", which made me blink. Was it a tattoo? I hadn't noticed it there before, "Uh… Luffy?"

"Huh?" The young man looked down, and he chuckled at what I was pointing at, "Oh yeah! You and Robin don't know about this, do you?" He abandoned the food and dropped to the floor. I closed the door for him as he explained the mark, "You see, we used this X to symbolize the fact that we're Nakama, we're friends."

"And… this was recent?" I asked, perhaps he had done this recently, which was why I didn't notice it until now…

"No…" Luffy said, "But… I kinda liked it, so sometimes I just draw it on there for fun," I sighed a bit with relief when I saw him pull a marker from his pockets. So he was drawing it on his arm! "You know, the X is supposed to represent the Jolly Roger, a pirate's mark! That's why it's so cool! Now… when someone has an X on their arm, that's a sign that they're one of the Straw Hat Pirate's Nakama!"

"I… see…?" I didn't have much time to say anything else because Luffy was already going into some stupid rambling about princesses and the desert and some men who could turn into a dog and bird and sand.

"And after we had to leave Vivi, we made sure that from then on, we would allow her to return to the Going Merry, because she's our Nakama! But there's one problem with you, Nick," He said, and I suddenly snorted awake, realizing that I had fallen asleep through most of the story, "You're leaving after this, right?" I just stared at Luffy, feeling that I was so tired, I would just make a fool of myself if I said anything, "After you get me acquitted, can't you come with us and be our pirate attorney?"

It took me all the strength I had within myself not to laugh aloud at what Luffy had said. Best not to awaken Zoro and get myself killed. However, once I stared into the captain's eyes and saw that he was dead serious; I felt that it wasn't as funny as I thought it was a second ago, and I sighed, "I'm sorry, Luffy, but there are people at home that need me to help them as well. I can't let them down," I failed to mention the fact that the Wright & Co. Law Offices were usually completely empty… but what the young man didn't know, wouldn't hurt him, right?

"Alright then, I've decided!" Luffy said, his words making me feel a little uneasy. He sounded way too determined and I was afraid he had decided to capture and force me to join them on their little adventures. All I knew was that if that happened, I'd probably be the first to get killed wherever they went to next, "Whether you leave or not, I've decided to make you an honorary Nakama of the Mugiwara Kaizokudan!"

"I… thank you, but really…" I didn't have much choice in the matter; even as I was protesting, he was grabbing at my arm, and fiddling with my cuff button. I finally gave up and obliged the young man, and together, we pulled back the sleeve of my left arm's shirt. Before I knew it, Luffy had drawn a perfect X on my arm. Hey, it was the easiest hazing ritual I had ever heard of, "Thanks, Luffy."

"You're welcome!" He replied, replacing the cap of the marker, "Now you'll always know that you're one of us! You're our Nakama! Now, if you'll excuse me…"

"Just don't be too loud," I replied, lying down as the captain returned to his eating, and I dropped off to sleep. Of course, the captain WAS loud, and I hardly got back to sleep, but having the X upon my arm made me feel like tomorrow, wait, TODAY, was going to be great.

Little did I know that later on in the day I would find myself fighting for my life…

---

**January 21, 7:41  
Going Merry Go**

I was already sitting at the table a few minutes before breakfast, and I listened as the entire crew (including me, now) got a sound yelling by Sanji, who had awoken to find half of the foodstuffs in the fridge gone, "We need to spend our gold from Skypiea on the SHIP, not the damned food!"

"It's not too bad," I pointed out with a slight yawn, "At least you got the money to keep going." I sighed at the memory of Maya eating me out of house and home. However, I didn't mention this fact after Sanji gave a glare that only Zoro and Luffy would be oblivious to (each one for different reasons).

Luffy simply laughed aloud, and I sweated a bit. Wasn't that kid going to realize that money was needed to keep them alive as well? I looked over at Sanji, and realized he was wearing a murderous glare. Deciding that since I was the only male in this room that could not survive the beatings he was about to deliver, I scooted from the room, abandoning the prospects of breakfast in an attempt to begin my investigations. At least, that's what I said to anyone who asked where I was going in such a hurry, "See you guys in a bit!"

"But Nick, wait for us!" Chopper cried, just as the door to the galley slammed behind me. I looked out over the ocean, and sighed a bit. Mia was right, it really was calming. Living around the mountains with such little income meant that trips to the beach were few and far between. The closest body of water to my house was Gourd Lake, and it wasn't nearly as fun hanging out there as it was last year. Shuddering at the thought of the murder that happened at that lake last Christmas Eve, I decided to keep my mind off of water and onto more important things, such as a little chat with that Mary Sue, Sakura Tenshi. All I needed to do was find out where she was staying, and what better way to find out secret information than to talk to the King of Loose Lips, Detective Gumshoe?

---

**January 21, 8:10  
1342 Wrong Way St.  
Back Alleyway**

"Hey, Pal! What are you doing here?" Gumshoe asked when he spied me meandering towards the murder scene. He was still investigating, apparently. I saw he was holding a bag, and from the looks of it, it was filled with donut holes. It was easy to figure out, because he was popping them into his mouth like they were popcorn, "I doubt you're going to find anything here…"

"Well… I really came here for you…" I replied, my voice trailing off when I noticed how much the bag was bulging. There were so many donut holes in there… Without another word, my stomach began to growl, and Gumshoe instantly realized what was going on.

"Oh, you're not that poor that you can't even eat now, Pal," He said, chuckling, "Are you just trying to leech off of me?"

"It's either leech off of you or get my limbs rearranged by their cook's feet…" I replied, clutching my protesting stomach, "I think you'd be a little more generous than him…"

Gumshoe laughed, "Edgeworth was right, they ARE pirates." I didn't reply (he was, after all, right), but gratefully accepted the meager offerings he placed in my awaiting hands. As I devoured the food with all due haste, the Detective decided the exchange for the donut holes was an ear for listening and a shoulder to cry on, "Well, it's looking pretty bleak for Ms. Tashigi; which means more work for me. She's making sure I work triple time since now I'm the only one on investigations. What am I supposed to do now?" I was about to actually answer, but apparently he didn't want one. He continued shouting about how he was definitely unable to find anything new, and that he was going to be yelled at again, and that there was nothing he could do to stop the Marine from yelling at him.

"As… enlightening as this is…" I said as cautiously as I could, "I really need to get back to work. You know, the judge told me not to slack off either."

Gumshoe looked like he was feeling a little sad that he was going to lose the one person he could whine to. However, he also seemed to understand the position I was in. Tashigi was shoving her workload on him, so I had the same amount of work that he had. He nodded a bit and allowed me to leave. I turned to him, and asked, still cautious as I continued my questions, "So… um… about… Sakura…" I began, looking away. Gumshoe blinked expectantly at me as I rubbed the side of my arm, "So… has she been subpoenaed yet?"

Gumshoe shook his head, "Oh no, OH NO! I'm onto you, you tricky lawyer! We may be friends, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give the defense any information!" He laughed aloud, "Besides, it's not like you'd be able to get any information out of her from her apartment down the way!"

My ears pricked up. Sakura Tenshi was staying at an APARTMENT? Well, this was weird… "A… apartment…? Down… that street…?"

"Wait… I wasn't supposed to say that…" The detective said, surprised that he actually said such things. He looked at my sly smile, and he gave a cry, "Wait a second! The Fangirl Order is on their way! They'll pick her up, Pal! You can't go by yourself!"

"Sorry, Gumshoe, just tell everyone I'll be paying her a visit!" I shouted as I rushed off to the apartments that the detective had motioned towards. I… I needed to speak with Sakura. I needed to ask her about Chii-chan… "Just wait for me, Sakura… I'll be there to get you to tell me the things I have forgotten…"

---

**January 21, 8:36  
Nerexisted Apartments  
Room 234**

"This is the one here?" I murmured, staring at the doorway to the room that the owners said belonged to the Mary Sue. I knocked thrice on the door. No answer. Two more times. Nothing. I felt hot as I reached out to take the doorknob. I looked around. No one was around. Taking a deep breath, I turned the knob slightly and closed my eyes tight…

…The doorway opened silently and easily as if it beckoned me to enter further. I looked in, and sighed unhappily that Sakura Tenshi was not at home at the moment. I walked inside, and slowly closed the door behind me. Looking around, I decided to investigate a bit. You know, just in case. I moved across the room towards her vanity; my eyes scanned the top, and they fell upon the one half opened drawer. ("No. No. No… I don't go rifling through women's drawers…" I muttered to myself. Then I remembered, "Oh yeah, except for Ms. May's drawers… Aw well, let's see…") I opened the large drawer and stared, intently, at the three items inside it. They were a bright, fire engine red monkey vest, short, frayed jeans and a charcoal black wig. I picked the wig up, noticing how wild and dirty it looked. My eyes widened in realization, and my lips grew in a large smile. Finally… actual proof…

I turned slightly, and froze when I heard a moan. It was a wild, feminine moan from the bed right to my right. I whirled around quickly, slamming my backside into the vanity. There, lying on the bed in nothing but her negligee, was the very Sue that was causing all this trouble. WHY, oh WHY did I forget to check the BED?

"What is this…?" The woman moaned, rubbing her eyes, "All that slamming around… Oh… Ryu-chan…" She muttered as her eyes fell upon my (at the time I wasn't thinking about it, but I definitely was quivering) figure, "What are you doing here..?"

"N… Nothing…" I squeaked, inching towards the door. I stopped in my tracks when she stretched out like a cat, her butt wagging in the air and her sounds giving a distinct "Nyaaaaaawn" noise. After she was done, she rolled gracefully out of bed, and I fought hard not to get any blood on my shirt. It was because of my damn nose ("Stop bleeding!" I shouted inwardly).

The two of us locked eyes, and I even as my pupils swerved towards the door, I could tell she understood exactly what I wanted. It soon it became a game of "who could get to the doorway first". I should have known that one couldn't beat a Mary Sue at ANY game, much less one that revolved around reflexes. I gave a slight gasp when the perfect woman slammed her hand on the wall, pinning me to that spot. I gasped for air as I stared (probably in fear, I wasn't really thinking at the moment) at the Mary Sue, who pouted a bit as she looked me over, "What I would give for you to be Zoro…"

"A… big reason I didn't… bring him with me…" I replied, pausing in between the sentence to breathe. It was so hard with a woman like her staring me down. I was beginning to feel hot… "I needed… to speak… to you…"

"Awwww, you came all the way down here for little ol' me?" She asked, reaching out with her free hand to trace my jaw line with her finger. I tensed at her touch; my cheeks were on fire, "It makes me wish that my creator made me to fall in love with you someone like you…" I stared at her as she elaborated, "Do you understand… what it's like?" She paused, "What it's like to be created for one thing? To be created simply so others can laugh at your existence? Digital Dreamer… she created me as a parody. She created me… and then abandoned me…"

"Alone…" It was then that I saw… Sakura was feeling what all of us were. Robin, Edgeworth, and I… we were all, at one point… alone. This Mary Sue was no different, and because of the title attached to her name… Mary Sue… everyone hated her. She… was all alone… It was then that I recalled something, and I looked at her. Her expression was filled with sadness. However, that made me look a bit sad myself, and I shook my head slowly, "Whatever happened, that is never any excuse to kill someone…"

I hoped it was the right answer, but it was obviously not, as Sakura's expression changed immediately and the hand that was fondling my jaw slammed into my neck. I gave a sharp gasp of surprise, but nothing entered my lungs even as air escaped them. I grasped at her arm with my free hand (the other was clutching the wig in my fingers), and I flailed like a fish out of water. It was a fairly accurate representation, as the both of us were unable to breathe, "You obviously DON'T understand what I go through each and everyday, RYU-CHAN," Sakura hissed, pressing harder on my throat, "And, since you're so intent on figuring out your precious 'truth', you can be the one who died trying to discover it!"

("No!" I pleaded in my mind, as I could most certainly not say it aloud, "No! No, Stop!") My legs flailed as Sakura lifted me easily from the ground, crushing my neck as she smiled wickedly at me. I thrashed about, but nothing helped, and I could feel the feeling in my fingers begin to disappear. My vision swam, and I looked down at the woman who was doing this to me, "Wh… why?" I managed to croak as I began to hallucinate due to lack of oxygen. Instead of seeing Sakura Tenshi, I saw a beautiful red haired angel smile at me, "Chinami… why…?"

---

"_Why?" The young woman asked, big tears falling from her face, "Why would you say such a thing, Onee-chan?"_

"_I think the defense should revoke her previous statement with an apology!" Winston Payne, the prosecuting attorney, said, pointing directly at Mia Fey, my defense attorney. I agreed wholeheartedly with the man._

"_I refuse!" Mia shouted, slamming her hands on her desk (Now that I think about it, I seemed to have gotten that from her…), "It was YOU, Chinami Miyanagi, who framed my client, Phoenix Wright, in an attempt to kill him with the law!"_

"_So handsome and pure…_

"_My great boyfriend Ryu-chan…_

"_Why would I kill him?" Chinami replied, her haiku absolutely flawless, even though she had just thought it up from the top of her head that moment. Payne and the (male and grey haired) Judge clapped, which made her blush shyly, "Onee-chan, do you think you should say things like that? I would never kill my boyfriend!"_

"_You would…" Mia said, a cocky smile on her face. She flipped her bangs to the side and continued, "If he possessed an item you did not want him to…" She pointed dramatically, "TAKE THAT! It's this pendant that you gave to Mr. Phoenix!"_

"_MIA!" I roared, "She gave that to me! She gave it to me because she loves me! It's a testament of our undying…"_

"_Bailiff!" The Judge shouted, "Silence the defendant!" I was promptly gagged by the bailiff, and I watched helplessly as my attorney heartlessly continued, without regard to my desires. MY love!_

"_You never gave this pendant to Mr. Phoenix because you loved him…" Mia said angrily, "You gave it to him because this pendant once held POISON!" The entire courtroom murmured a bit, and it only stopped when the Judge slammed his gavel down, "This bottle here is a part of the pendant. The witness, Chinami, used it to hide poison, which she used to kill Kaminogi Souryuu by poisoning his coffee!"_

"_OBJECTION!" Payne shouted, "How dare you! You're bringing up that old, dusty case again? Your boyfriend was the one who died, and now all you can do is try to pin the blame on this model of perfection?"_

"_OBJECTION!" Mia retorted, "Perfection? PERFECTION? I think it would be nice for the Judge to know that the very day Kaminogi died was the day the witness and Mr. Phoenix met!" She slammed her hands on her desk, "YOU, Chinami, passed off the pendant to Mr. Phoenix to keep anyone from knowing your GUILT!"_

"_KYAAAAAA!" Chinami squealed aloud, looking windblown (quite literally); I struggled against the bailiff's arms ("Damn you, Mia!" I tried to say aloud, "Stop making my Chii-chan cry!")._

"_And then, when Mr. Phoenix refused to return the pendant to you, when he showed it to everyone he met, you realized the wrong person might see it. You decided to do him in… You wanted to do it the same way you did Kaminogi… You tried to poison him, with THIS!" She slammed a bottle down, my bottle of cough syrup, "You stole Mr. Phoenix's bottle of Cold Killer Z (King of Cough Medicines! TM) during lunch and attempted to poison him with it. Oh, but the victim was smart… he noticed you were stealing his poisons… He tried to warn Mr. Phoenix. He tried to tell the defendant to break off his relationship with you. You figured it out, so you killed the victim… and framed Mr. Phoenix for the murder!"_

"_PROVE IT!" Chinami screamed, shaking her head back and forth, "You can't prove a thing! You can't you can't you can't you can't you CAN'T!"_

_Mia interrupted her screaming with two words that cracked the case, "Take it…" The courtroom fell silent, and all eyes went to Mia, who smiled, "Ms. Chinami… take the medicine… just a teaspoon in a half… and disprove my claims." The woman, my soul mate, the woman of my destiny, stopped dead in her tracks, and she stared at the bottle, sitting in front of the defense, "Take the medicine, Ms. Chinami. If we're quick, you may get to the hospital fast enough to get treated… but seeing as how a perfect killer like you wouldn't want anything to go wrong… you must have put a lot of poison in this bottle… It's highly unlikely you'll be treated in time…"_

_Chinami bit her bottom lip, "I… I… M…" I smiled; it didn't matter if I was convicted for murder. She could take the medicine, and be free. She would take my medicine and show that she loved me. For a half a year, we had been soul mates, and we would remain that way forever. All my hopes were shattered by the next thing she said… "M… M… MIA FEY…" Chinami changed immediately, her eyes flared up, and she looked like a demon, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, Fey… Someday, SOMEDAY, I will RUIN you…" And like that, my whole being burst. All along… Mia was right. I practically collapsed in the defendant's chair as my (former) soul mate suddenly returned to normal, a smile brightening her face, "Ahhh, Jii-chan, Ossan… I'm going to have to leave now… Rest assured, however…" She smiled, closing her eyes and looking just like an angel, "I will be back…"_

---

It was then that I remembered. I remembered everything… my Chii-chan never loved me… Mia had told me to forget about her because trying to remember would be too painful… And now, in my delusion, I saw the very woman I was supposed to forget, and I remembered, "Chii-chan… why did you… try… to poison…?"

"Save your breath, Ryu-chan," Was the sickly sweet reply. The Sakura/Chinami smiled a bit at the sight of me falling limp, my free hand slowly releasing her hand and my head drooping forward, "if you want to live three seconds more than you already would have."

("Someone… please…") There was another time like this, when Dee Vasquez had threatened to "erase" me with the power of the mafia. It nearly worked, too, if Gumshoe hadn't arrived to save Maya and myself. Yet now… no one… there was no one here… No one was here to help me… I came alone, and I realized that this stupid mistake was the last one I was ever going to make…

As I slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing I recalled was the sound of an explosion large enough to jar me from Sakura's iron tight grip…

---

**January 21, 6:11  
Going Merry Go  
Men's Room**

"You think he's dead?"

"Of course not! Chopper said he'd be fine!"

"I've had enough of your lip…"

"Leave Nami-san out of this!"

"Ahhh! Everyone, I think Attorney-san is awake!" I opened one of my eyes, and stared a certain archeologist right in the face. Pretty soon, I saw the entire group staring down at me. I blinked my eyes and attempted to sit up, but Chopper made sure that didn't happen.

"Nick! You're still not well. Your neck is all bruised and your lungs are still fighting the asphyxiation. You shouldn't do anything strenuous that would aggravate them."

"Where am I?" I wondered, practically ignoring Chopper as I looked around the room.

"You're in the men's room," Luffy replied, and I could see he was telling the truth, as Nami seemed not to like the smell of the place much. I felt below me, and I realized I was lying on the couch in the room. I could also tell that from looking at Zoro, who seemed annoyed that someone had stolen his "bed", "The others were able to save you before Sakura killed you."

"You… all…?" I looked around the room. It was silent, the only sound being Sanji's lighting of his match so he could start another cigarette.

"I begged Zoro and Sanji to come see you in action," Chopper explained, "But the detective (He was talking about Gumshoe, obviously) said that you had gone on ahead to see Sakura Tenshi!"

---

"_He WHAT?" Sanji roared, his cigarette fluttering from his mouth, "What kind of IDIOT did our captain hire?"_

"_Now now, Pals, don't fret," Gumshoe said, attempting to calm the four men down as Zoro felt someone walk over his grave and Chopper hid behind Usopp, who was hiding behind the enraged Sanji, "I've got the Fangirl Order together. They'll take care of him…" He was cut off as Zoro rushed off, followed by Sanji, with Chopper and Usopp on his heels._

"_That damned attorney!" The first mate said, "I heard that lawyers were annoying, but this takes the cake! If he gets himself killed…"_

"_Couldn't we give him the benefit of the doubt that he'll be fine?" Usopp asked. Sanji glared at the sniper, who looked away sheepishly, "Then again, maybe not…"_

---

"You nearly gave us all heart attacks, you bastard," Sanji growled.

"But why?" I asked, "You all… don't think of me… like that… like one of you… do you?" I blinked. Usopp and Chopper… maybe… and Luffy, obviously… but surely the others didn't think of me as a "Nakama"? Surely they all thought I was an outsider, peeking in just out of necessity…

Sanji gave a "peh", his cigarette nearly flying from his mouth from the spitting sound he made, "Hearing something like that from you makes me wish we didn't…" He pointed at my arm, "And yet, Captain's words are final."

I looked down, and saw that my sleeve had been drawn up; maybe Chopper did it to check my blood pressure? Either way, there it was… the black X upon my arm… I looked back up at the Straw Hat Pirates, and Zoro shrugged, "Couldn't have said it better myself. We had to get to you, to protect you and your stupid skin… We got there just in time…"

---

"_EAAAAAAAURG!" Usopp screamed at the sight he saw. Sakura turned; she had been caught, red-handed, in the attempt of murder. There, writhing and twitching in her grasp like a fish out of water was the stupidest attorney the Straw Hats had ever seen. Chopper cried aloud and the sniper thought fast, "Leave Nick alone! Hissatsu Kayaku Boshi!"_

_Sakura gave a cry as the star connected with the woman's face and the explosion jolted her enough to drop the unconscious attorney. Sanji and Chopper went for Phoenix as Zoro and Usopp double teamed against the Mary Sue. She abandoned her quarry and rushed towards the vanity. She dragged a Katana out from behind it and faced the swordsman and sniper, "You forget, Zoro-kun, that I am a master of not only Santoryuu, but also Isshtoryuu, Nitoryuu, AND Yontoryuu!" As the first mate and sniper stared blankly at the woman's outrageous claims, Sanji and Chopper made sure to check Phoenix's condition._

"_Nick, Nick! He's unconscious! Someone, call a doctor!"_

"_Chopper, you ARE the doctor…" Sanji hissed. After Chopper reminded himself of this fact, he started checking on the attorney's vital signs._

"_He's fine, he's just unconscious due to asphyxiation," The reindeer said, "We should get him back to the Merry Go as soon as possible! Ohhhhh, if we were a minute later, then…"_

"_Little HELP here?" Zoro asked, the combined power of his three katana no match for Sakura's prowess… If anything, her negligee made her even more powerful, if that was even possible._

---

"So, you four were defeated?" I asked. Everyone groaned. I just ruined the climax, apparently.

"No, you moron!" Sanji shouted, "It was around then that the Fangirls arrived. Oh, such wonderful guardian angels, protecting us men from the she-devil herself!" He crooned a bit at such thoughts as Usopp explained in a little more detail.

---

"_HALT, in the name of the Fangirl Law!" A shout came from the door, and five fangirls (and one fanboy), broke into the apartment, fanning out to secure the perimeter, "Sakura Tenshi, you are hereby under arrest for assaulting canon characters of the One Piece world!"_

"_She's also being subpoenaed for the trial tomorrow," The male pointed out._

"_Yeah yeah," The leader groaned, "You're also being subpoenaed for the trial tomorrow, but you're going to jail FIRST!"_

"_You'll never take me alive!" The Mary Sue shouted. She reached out and grabbed the nearest male to him that wasn't Zoro. Usopp screamed aloud as she held the Katana to his throat, "Either that, or your annoying sniper gets it!"_

"_NOOOOO!" One of the fangirls screamed, "Don't hurt Usoppu-sama!"_

_The two sides seemed at a standstill, until another of the fangirls chucked something she created from her mind on the spot towards the Mary Sue, "Fire in the hole!"_

_When the metallic bag hit Sakura, she thrust Usopp away with the bag that was chucked at her by the fangirl. The Mary Sue dropped to the floor with a cry of "Get it away from meeeee!"_

"_Nice work, Fighting Comet!" The leader said, nodding happily, "Who would have thought that Sakura Tenshi abhors Doritoes?"_

---

"And that was that," Usopp said, his sagely nods adding to his story, "Of course, it really didn't matter, I was certain my 8,000 men would come and save me!"

"Then remind me," Sanji spoke, tapping his cheek thoughtfully, "Who was it that was screaming 'Save me, save me! Someone save me!'?" The entire crew laughed, and the sniper sighed. I chuckled a bit myself at the joke, and then suddenly gasped.

"W… Wait!" I looked around, "Where did it go? Where did the wig go?"

"The wig?" Everyone blinked, and suddenly Chopper gasped in realization, "You mean that black thing you were holding when we saved you?" I nodded, and the entire Straw Hat crew turned to look at Luffy, who was laughing.

"Here it is!" He proclaimed, taking off his straw hat. I peered directly at his hair, and I gave a happy cry. It was true! He was wearing the wig! It looked so messy, much like his normal hair, I had never even noticed! The captain took the wig off of his head and placed it upon my stomach, "Here you are, Nick. I was taking good care of it for you while you were asleep." I chuckled at the captain and his kindness, but then I also smiled. After I saw that wig on Luffy's head, my suspicions of Sakura's plan turned into flawless knowledge. Luffy helped me out so much…

"Well then, I have to thank you all for your help," I said, preparing to crawl off of the couch, "I'll have to work extra hard during investigations to make it up to all of you…"

I stopped when I saw the glare from the rest of the crew, and Nami smiled, "I don't think so, Phoenix," She said, using a name that was on much more familiar terms. I blinked, "We've decided that since you were being an idiot, you'd have to be punished."

"Since Chopper said you shouldn't be wandering about…" Zoro said, "We're going out instead."

"Wh… WHAT?" I shouted without thinking, making my lungs hurt. Chopper gave a cry that I was struggling, "You…"

"We're going to investigate in your stead, Attorney-san," Robin explained, "The only two who are staying behind are Doctor-san and Captain-san."

"I need to take care of you," Chopper elaborated, "And Luffy's still a suspect, so the others are going to go and look for clues for you!"

"Bu… but…" I protested, but they refused to listen. As if to spite me, all five of the new investigators left the room just as I started to protest, talking about how they were going to help their captain and other some such. I was left with my doctor and captain, who were staring down at me, with concern and joviality, respectively, "Well…" I sighed, "I guess it's just the three of us."

"Actually," Chopper chuckled, "I need to go grind some medicine down. It'll be just you and Luffy," The reindeer, satisfied with his answer, walked off towards the galley, and my eyes wandered towards the captain, who smiled at me.

"So, you wanna play some Go Fish?" Luffy asked, smiling. I then realized THIS was the punishment I had. Apparently, I was supposed to keep tabs on the young man for everyone else. Oh well, at least I wasn't cleaning off the entire ship… perhaps that came AFTER I was fully recovered.

"Yeah, Luffy," I replied, sitting up in the couch and taking the proffered hand of cards, "Let's play."

We played from then to the time that Chopper returned, giving me some medicines (mostly a salve to get rid of the itch upon my now bruised neck). The doctor asked me to take a nap, and I nodded in response. The moment my head hit the pillow, I was practically unconscious. I would need all my energy to beat Tashigi and expose Sakura. There was only one thing that was missing. I had a dream that night that the very thing I needed eluded me throughout the rest of my life…

…

To Be Continued…

---

The scariest thing is that I really enjoy characters like Chinami. Writing for her was great. So, how'd you guys like my haiku? hehehe...

Reviewing would be a plus.


	8. Day 6: Trial Former

First, I'm sorry this is so short. I was just writing, and suddenly said, "This is a good place to put 'To Be Continued...'" so I did. The next part will probably be up at another time, close to this time. Tomorrow? Or something? And THAT will be the end of the trials. Then, keep reading on, because I'll add an extra that's an "Easter egg" with extra special stuff. Just watch, it'll be great. For all of you still reading, THANK YOU. I appreciate you and your support!

So, without further ado:

READ ON!

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 6: Trial; Former

**January 22, 5:32  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Defendant Lobby No. 2**

That morning, I was pacing back and forth. Chopper followed close behind me to make sure my vitals were still working, and the reindeer finally asked what was going on, "Something wrong, Nick?"

"Where is everyone?" I asked, getting nervous, "It's almost time for the trial, and they haven't even so much as given me a scrap of evidence I could use today, and where did Luffy go, anyway? He said he had to go to the bathroom, but it's been nearly a half hour!"

"The others haven't arrived yet, Nick… but…" Chopper looked at the door as I continued to pace, "Maybe they're on their way…"

"We have less than a half hour left…" I murmured, checking my watch, "Gah! 5:33!"

"We're heeeeeeere!" I looked up happily as the six missing members of the Straw Hat Pirates entered the lobby, "And Nami-san has found the best evidence of them all!"

I completely ignored Sanji, sweating like a frog on dry land, "Luffy, where were you? You're not making my job much easier!"

"I was just talking to someone," Luffy replied matter-of-factly, as if that would suffice. Looking across at the glares from the other Straw Hats, it would have to do. I sighed and turned to Nami, who approached with a folder in her hand.

"That Fighting Comet Fangirl gave this to me. She said it might be useful," Nami said, handing me the file. I blinked at the title, and Nami said what it was for those not reading it, "It's the list of those who are part of the Zoro and Luffy fanpairing club at the Fangirl Order Headquarters."

"F… Fanpairing…?" I muttered, looking at the file, "What was a fanpairing again…?"

---

"_You don't even know what a fanpairing is?" Cody asked incredulously. I tried to focus on my newspaper. I really needed to keep my mouth in check. My partner, Maya Fey, was playing with her 9 year old friend, Cody Hackins, which wouldn't be that bad if my partner weren't 17! Apparently, at the moment, the two were using their Steel Samurai Trading Cards to battle each other, or something like that. The two of them were laughing about something, and I had heard the word "Fanpairing". Without thinking, I asked what that meant. Then the two of them stared at me like I was some sort of alien from outer space._

"_Well, let's take the Steel Samurai!" Maya said after recovering from her stupor. Cody nodded, mentioning that it was the "perfect example", "You see, the Neo Olde Tokyo's princess and the Horse Mistress both have a crush on the Steel Samurai, but the question is, who does the Steel Samurai love?"_

"_How should I know?" I asked, "You're the one with E.S.P., Maya."_

"_That's just IT," Cody said, taking on the role of the teacher (since when did 4th graders start lecturing lawyers? What was the world coming to…?), "No one knows who he loves, but people have differing opinions on the matter, some say that he should be with the princess and some say he should be with the Horse Mistress."_

"_And some say he should be with the Evil Magistrate," Maya interjected. Cody nodded._

"_But… isn't the Evil Magistrate a… guy…?" I asked. I may not know much about the show, but at least I knew THAT._

"_Doesn't matter," Cody replied, "As long as people THINK they can be together, there will be a fanpairing of the couple, jeez…" The boy returned to placing a rare Steel Samurai's Katana card on his Steel Samurai fighter card, "For a grownup, you sure are dumb…" I grumbled a bit to myself, returning to my newspaper. It's not like that kind of stuff will be on his next test at school. Let's see him scrape a D on his next report card; then I'll have bragging rights._

_Of course, bragging rights over a 9 year old seemed a little… petty… Damn it, had I sunk so low as to be letting a CHILD insult me? I sunk lower into the park bench, trying to make it look like I was actually reading the newspaper that I was holding. I'd have to start showing more people my attorney's badge. My poor, poor ego needed it…_

---

"You don't even know what a fanpairing is?" The crew asked incredulously, the same way Cody had done so last year.

"O… of course I do…" I said with a chuckle (the last thing I needed were people Maya's age laughing at me as well), "I was just… joking…" Some of them (mainly Zoro and Sanji) gave me looks, but I purposefully ignored them to look at the file. There were names I had never seen before on it, but some struck a chord, "Saiyako…" The one who told Luffy about MangaLandian Earthlings, "D… DigitalDreamer…?" There at the top was the name of that Fangirl… It wasn't much of a stretch to say she had started this whole thing, but I kept quiet about it when I saw a name that Nami seemed to have circled herself, "Imra… Bid…" I gasped, "N… Nami, this is perfect!"

"I know," Nami said, puffing up with pride, "Since when am I ever wrong about something? Anyway, that'll be 200,000 Beli for the information."

"Nami-san is so beautiful when she's exalting herself!" Sanji crooned. I nodded, a large smile spreading across my face. It was contagious, apparently, as the others were beginning to smile as well.

"This… this is it! This is the day we acquit Luffy and catch the real murderer!" There was a cheer among the crew as I turned to take Luffy to the courtroom. This was it, the final showdown… "Sakura Tenshi… you're mine…"

---

**January 22, 6:00  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Courtroom No. 3**

The gavel banged down to enter in the last day of Imra Bid's murder case, and the Judge looked about, "Are we ready?"

"Yes, Your Honor, the Prosecution is ready," Tashigi replied.

"The Defense is ready, Your Honor," I said with a curt nod.

"Prosecution?" The Judge asked, allowing Tashigi to provide her opening statements. The prosecutor smirked a smirk that made my stomach tie up in knots.

"The only opening statement I have is this," Tashigi said, wagging her finger nonchalantly, "The defendant and I have come to an… agreement…" The audience murmured as I turned to look at Luffy.

"WHAT?" I shouted at the captain, who had that same smug smile on his face, although this one seemed… fake… "That's where you went when you said you were using the restroom…? You didn't… you didn't…"

The Judge slammed her gavel down, and the prosecutor continued, her smug smile not leaving, "The defendant has promised to testify in court about these rubber gloves," she said, "I think… this testimony will be the decisive evidence needed to find the victim's murderer…"

"Luffy, you couldn't have agreed to this!" I hissed under my breath. Luffy refused to respond. Oh well… two could play at this game…

"I see, then," The Judge said, nodding, "would the defendant, Monkey D. Luffy, please take the stand?"

"OBJECTION!" I shouted, making everyone stare at me, "The defendant does NOT want to take the stand!"

"What are you saying, Mr. Wright?" Tashigi growled. She pointed at Luffy's figure, "He's already halfway to the podium as we speak!"

"You forget," I said, smiling. Luffy seemed a little out-of-sorts as I continued, "If you recall, Luffy is not representing himself. It is I who state his words in court," I slammed my hands on the desk, "And I say, as his defense attorney, that he does NOT want to take the stand."

There was murmuring among the audience about my conduct. I had never… used my power to this extent. Because I trusted my clients to the end, I always believed in their judgment… but now… something seemed weird about the captain's conduct… I felt sick even as I spoke, but this was for the best, for Luffy's freedom…

…Right…?

"He can't do that, can he?" Luffy asked the Judge. She simply shook her head.

"He can," She replied, "I never would have expected such a move by him… but it is true… He can…"

"Well then," Luffy said, looking directly at me. I could see that it was supposed to be a glare… but I saw a bit of sadness, as if to say, "I'm sorry". He then turned back to the judge, "I say that Nick isn't my attorney anymore. Nor is he my Nakama." He nodded, "That is all."

I must have felt like Detective Goodman when that knife stabbed him in his chest, the one knife that started Lana Skye's trial. Luffy twisted it even after he took the podium, looking much like Edgeworth: cold as ice. It didn't suit the captain at all, "I am ready to testify. Nick… You're fired."

"Cut the crap!" I shouted, "You can't mean that! Luffy!"

"Captains orders…" Luffy replied, not even bothering to look at me in my desperate state, "you have nothing to do with the Straw Hat Pirates from hereon out."

"Well, this is certainly different…" The Judge said, ignoring the shouts from the Straw Hat Pirates in the audience, "The defendant, and defense, witnessing at the same time? How are you supposed to cross-examine yourself?"

Luffy put on a faux smile, "I guess Nick could do that for me, if he asks really nice." I seriously was about to ask if he was a doppelganger, not Luffy at all, but that sentence destroyed my ideas of a Luffy clone. That sentence… was one hundred percent Luffy. I then realized that the reason he was firing me was because I was refusing to let him testify. He would keep me on, as long as I let him take the stand…

"Well then, defen… Ahhh, Mr. Phoenix…?" The Judge seemed unsure of what to call me; professionally, of course.

"Defense," I replied, "I'm staying on as Monkey D. Luffy's defense attorney," Luffy was even willing to fire me if I stopped him from testifying here. That meant that whatever he was going to say was important. I needed to tread carefully from here on… "Please, witne… Luffy… go on with your testimony." And he did:

"Well, you see… we were in the alleyway… We had the rubber gloves with us…

"I didn't need them, so we were throwing the gloves around, pulling the gloves out one by one."

He looked a little saddened, "We… got into a fight… over who would pull out the next glove… and I yanked on the box… and it ripped…"

I could tell he was feeling terrible, like a man just admitting his guilt, "She got mad at me… we were yelling at each other… and then…"

The Judge shook her head, "I see, so that's what happened." I shook my head, sweating all over ("No!" I shouted, "It can't be! Luffy, why are you lying? Why?"), "Well, Mr. Wright, if you want, you can cross-examine your witness."

I nodded, albeit uncertainly… "I… I will… Your Honor." Luffy turned to me, smiling a bit, and I glared at him, "Luffy, why didn't you tell us you were with the victim during the night? You claimed you only saw her during the day!"

"OBJECTION!" Tashigi shouted, "The defendant was simply trying to hide his crime! Now he has nothing to hide. He's realized that this is the best thing to do…"

"Luffy… this can't be true…" I muttered quietly. Luffy didn't reply (he probably didn't even hear me speaking), "Witness! I need you to tell me: What happened, exactly, during your fight with the victim?" Luffy seemed to be caught off guard, and I smirked. If Luffy was lying, then he obviously would contradict his own testimony here trying to think up a murder on the fly.

"Well…" The captain said, a little reluctant to continue, "You see… um… she was yelling at me… telling me I was an idiot… for ripping the box…" He laughed a bit, "It didn't affect me much. Zoro calls me an idiot all the time. But she was… um… really angry, and shouting… I was… angry too. How dare she yell at me? So… I… punched her…"

"You… punched her?" I asked, "That doesn't sound like something that would kill her by impalement…"

"Well, yeah…" Luffy replied, "But… I'm not finished! Yeah, I punched her, really hard!" He said, punching the air to show, "Gomu Gomu no Pistol and all that. She was really mad… she, um… she took her Katana out…"

"HOLD IT!" I shouted, pointing at Luffy, "She took her Katana out of her sheath? Did she attack you?"

"I… um… yeah…" Luffy replied, "She rushed at me, swinging the sword with a shout, and I…"

"You acted in self defense," I said, "You assaulted her, but she was clearly trying to kill you. You slammed the Katana from her hands and the Katana flew into the air. As she dropped to the floor, the Katana dropped down, accidentally impaling her!" I slammed my hands on the desk, and the camera panned to give me yet another close up (Swooshy background included!), "Imra Bid wasn't murdered, she died on ACCIDENT!"

The audience murmured, and only stopped when the gavel was brought down, "That… that could actually happen…" The Judge said after deliberating my claims.

"OBJECTION!" Tashigi shouted, "That's just… that's… too farfetched!"

"Farfetched, maybe…" The Judge said. She then nodded her head and continued, "but how many times has the defendant done something that should normally be impossible?" The prosecutor hissed, but did not reply to that question.

"But that's not how it happened!" Luffy shouted, "Nick, stop this! You're ruining everything!"

"Witness, I suggest you…"

"I refuse! I won't stop talking! I'm the captain, you're supposed to listen to ME!" Luffy sounded like a child who was throwing a temper tantrum when things didn't go his way, "You're fired! You're FIRED!" I gave a shout when he suddenly whirled around and rushed towards the door. Everyone gasped and I started after him even as Tashigi prepared to chase the captain down, her Katana practically out of its sheath already.

"Your Honor, I'll get him back," I said, "Just wait, let me bring him back! I need to talk to him about this testimony he's giving! It sounds like idiocy to me!"

The Judge looked at Tashigi, who waited for the woman's decision. After a sigh, the Judge shook her head, "Fine, the court will take a slight recess. Bring him back by…" She looked at her watch, "Noon, alright?"

Tashigi sighed in defeat, and I nodded, "Yes, Your Honor!" I said, practically saluting the Judge as I rushed from the courtroom in pursuit of my captain. As I rushed from the room, I could hear the gavel being brought down, that court was in recess. The audience's talking was loud and rambunctious. I had to get Luffy back quickly…

---

**January 22, 11:48  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Defendant Lobby No. 2**

It was no surprise that I found Luffy in the Defendant Lobby, still looking like that spoiled brat who didn't get his way, "Luffy… are you… is that… what were you doing in there? You practically got yourself declared 'guilty'!"

"I did it… because I… I didn't want you to lose your dream…" Luffy said, after a moment of silence between us, "She said she was going to take it away if I didn't testify…"

"You lied… for a… what?" I asked, obviously not getting where this was going.

"Your dream!" Luffy said, looking quite peeved that I didn't understand why he was sacrificing his acquittal for this, "Your dream to be an attorney! To help people when they have no one else to turn to! Tashigi said that if I didn't testify that I killed Imra Bid; that she was going to make the Fangirl Order take your badge away… for being friends with pirates…"

I was silent for a moment, even as Luffy looked dejected that I didn't realize what he was doing, and I smiled. It was all I could do to keep from laughing aloud. Dropping onto the couch next to the captain, I looked at the young man… with all his captain abilities; it was hard to see that he was only Ema's age. Now… I could see it. Even Luffy could feel uncertain… Without thinking, I placed my hand on his shoulder, and he turned to me, blinking, "Luffy… you're… an idiot."

He looked confused, and I smiled, "Sure, I may not be able to defend anyone HERE, in YOUR world, but I doubt the Fangirl Order can keep me from defending people in my world (Since when did I start calling Earth "My World"? Oh well… it kinda fit…). You should have seen the time the chief of police himself attempted to wrench my badge from me! I'm not going down that easily. Besides, Luffy, wouldn't going to jail hamper your journey to accomplish YOUR dream?"

Luffy thought about it a moment, and he laughed that laugh that I had come to expect from him, "I guess you're right, I doubt One Piece would be in a jail cell, anyway!" The two of us laughed a bit, and the captain hopped from the couch, "Come on! Let's go show Tashigi who the REAL murderer is!" I smiled at him, simply because I could see that this was Luffy as he should be. His doppel-ganger seemed to have rushed off somewhere else…

"Alright then, Luffy, let's do it," I reached out and took his hand, shaking it, "Just as long as you promise not to lie again. People get arrested for lying on the witness stand, you know."

"Really?" Luffy proclaimed, eyes wide, "I never would have guessed!" I began to sweat. This kid was really a handful…

…

To Be Continued…

---

We aren't done yet! Keep the reviews coming, please!


	9. Day 6: Trial Latter

Everyone, congratulate me! I'm FINISHED! With a multichapter story! AMAZING! You can all go "Ohhh" and "Ahhh" right now. Except... if you remember, I'm NOT finished! I'm still writing up your Easter Egg of happy treats and fluffy chicks! (alright, it has fluffy REINDEERS in it instead, but who cares, really?) This is the end of Phoenix's first trial as a MangaLandian attorney, so give him a cheer! Here we are at the end. Everyone who has read so far, thanks so much! Everyone who has beta'd, from the beginning to the end, You have my sincerest thanks. Now, just wait until I finish the extra, and then I'll go back over the whole thing and find lots of mistakes I should add to and then it'll be even better! Once again, thank you!

So, without further ado:

READ ON!

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day 6: Trial; Latter

**January 22, 12:00  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Courtroom No. 3**

The audience was still talking amongst themselves as Luffy and I reentered the courtroom. All eyes were on us, from the shining eyes of Chopper to the glaring slits that were Tashigi's eyes. I smiled sheepishly, and snapped to attention before the Judge, "Thanks, Your Honor. I brought him back just as you asked."

"Well then, let's hurry up and finish this," The Judge replied, slamming her gavel down, "Court is back in session for the trial of Mr. Monkey D. Luffy. Now then, what is the next order of business?"

"The defense asks the witness to continue his story," I said, making Tashigi raise her eyebrow, "He told me that there is one part left unsaid about his testimony that he had forgotten."

"OBJECTION!" Tashigi shouted, "The prosecution refuses to accept Luffy's testimony from here on out! The witness was obviously prepped by his PIRATE attorney during the recess!"

There was murmuring among the audience, and I felt rather sick when I heard such whisperings as, "A pirate attorney? Isn't defending an outlaw the opposite of what a lawyer should do, anyway?"

"Why has he helping Luffy all this time, anyway? Surely he can't believe a PIRATE to be innocent of a crime…?"

"What if he really is in cahoots with the defendant? Does he really deserve that badge? Shouldn't that crappy little piece of iron-with-flaking-gold-plate be ripped from his collar?"

"I wouldn't mind doing it myself… Spiky hair is SO not fashionable anymore. Now he just looks like a Cloud wannabe." I had to keep from reeling. So here it happened… Tashigi was shouting an objection and pointing out my loyalty towards the Straw Hat Pirates, and already the Fangirls were questioning my ability to continue this trial. Heck, even I was questioning my ability to defend Luffy now. My poor ego was being stamped out as they spoke…

"OBJECTION!" Luffy shouted from his seat, and I turned to him with a weak smile. Luffy was such a great captain… sticking up for his Nakama…

"Defendant, I suggest you shut your trap…" The Judge warned.

"Not until I tell you the truth!" Luffy replied defiantly. He pointed directly at the prosecution, who was beginning to sweat, "Before Tashigi starts telling everyone that Nick is bad, I should say that she was telling ME to turn myself in! In fact, she was trying to scare me into admitting guilt that I don't have!"

"You aren't feeling guilty of murdering someone?" The Judge asked incredulously. I gave a sigh and elaborated.

"Your Honor, Tashigi told Luffy to claim that he was guilty, even though he's not!" I pointed at Tashigi, who hissed under her breath, "She is guilty of FORGING evidence by forcing a witness to speak lies!"

"How dare you!" Tashigi screamed as the malicious whisperings from the audience were then aimed towards her, "You… you… PIRATE!"

"Whether I am a pirate or not," I said, slamming my hands down on the desk, "I am a DEFENSE ATTORNEY, intent on getting the clients I trust declared innocent!" My smile was returning. The audience was clapping softly for me, even as the Judge attempted to quell the people by slamming her gavel down.

"Order! Order!" The Judge shouted at the audience, "Tashigi, your objection is overruled. Defendant. Take the stand."

Luffy walked up to the podium, his smile much brighter. I wouldn't be surprised if it was blinding a few of the Fangirls dressed in black up there in the audience. They seemed to be hissing at it as if it was burning them, "Alright, then, defendant. Please tell the court about these gloves."

I smiled a bit as Luffy nodded, "With pleasure, Your Honor!"

"Well, you see… we were in the alleyway around noon … We had the rubber gloves with us…

"But then the sun started to go down."

He smiled sheepishly, "I had to run back to the ship, or else the others would get mad.

He then smiled happily, "So after waving to Imra, I gave her the gloves, and rushed off to the port."

The captain nodded, "That's what REALLY happened!"

The Judge blinked, "But… the end is completely different from your previous testimony! What are you saying now?"

Luffy chuckled, "Nick told me that I may be arrested for perjury, but I can't lie anymore, not when Tashigi told me I HAD to say it otherwise she'd hurt Nick!" There was murmuring among the audience directed towards Tashigi, and I winked at Luffy. Things were going our way, finally.

The Judge slammed her gavel down, "Prosecutor! Is this true?" Tashigi did not speak, and the Judge shook her head, "I… I see… so after all this time…? Monkey D. Luffy… are you retracting your first testimony? If you do… you will be charged with perjury."

Luffy nodded, "I am… perjury can't be as bad as murder!"

Suddenly there was a surge from the audience, "No!" Fangirls and boys of all kinds shouted, "It's not Luffy's fault! He was protecting his Nakama! Perjury is out of the question!"

"Your Honor," I said, "I think the audience believes that Luffy doesn't deserve the sentence. After all, if anyone is at fault, it is the prosecution for attempting to force my client to lie!" The audience was on my side, and they verbally told the judge so. I had never seen Tashigi so scared. She looked like she was about to drop under her desk in fear of the roaring Fangirls, as if she were afraid they'd riot in her direction. Maybe I went a little overboard… after all; she was just doing her job… even if she did do so in such a way… Would it be called "vile" if she was doing it because she believed it was right…?

"Order! Order! If this keeps up, I'll have to suspend the trial for the day!" The Judge said as she slammed her gavel down, "Settle down, now!" I suddenly heard the screaming of Fangirls and Fanboys as Sanji and Zoro prepared to beat the snot out of the shouting women. No way were these people going to get them to have to sit through ANOTHER day of trials!

"That's right!" Zoro shouted as Sanji slammed his foot into a Fanboy's face (As he refused to hurt a woman, after all), "And you'd better STAY seated!" The Judge blinked at the help she had gotten, but didn't mention it anymore.

"Alright, then…" The Judge looked in deep thought as the audience finally died down (and Tashigi and I started poking our heads worriedly out from behind our desks), "After… much deliberation… this court finds that Luffy's first testimony must not be used. It has been stricken from the record… the question that now remains is such: is the defendant guilty of perjury. I must say… that he is not…" I let out an unconscious sigh of relief, even as Tashigi ground her teeth, "Does the defense wish to cross examine the witness?"

"No…" I thought with a little deliberation on my part, "But his testimony must stand in the record. I do believe it is needed when the next witness is brought forward." Luffy hopped from the podium and went back to the defendant's chair, "The prosecution may continue…"

"I… am still, thinking…" Tashigi murmured, "If… I want… I don't have to bring Sakura Tenshi forward, you know. I have not found enough evidence to believe that her testimony will assist this case in any way." I grunted softly when she smiled just a bit, "After all, being the prosecution, I don't have to bring her into this trial unless you're planning on defending her. Well, Mr. Wright?" I hissed under my breath. Tashigi was really getting on my nerves…

"I object!" I said, "We have already asserted that Sakura was wounded that same day, and her blood was on the murder weapon!" Finally! Another dramatic finger point! "I emphatically request that she be subpoenaed and brought before this court to testify about this matter!"

The Judge nodded, "I agree. We will bring the Mary Sue out. She will testify before this court. Bailiff! Bring her out here at this moment!"

Tashigi closed her eyes as the bailiff rushed out to collect Sakura, "So… it has come to this…" She murmured, shaking her head softly, "Perhaps… it is time… Captain Smoker… I'm sorry…" She looked up at me, "I… guess if this is what will happen… then I am powerless to stop it."

"Tashigi," I replied to the woman across from me, "You fought well… but now…" I stopped. The two of us, bound as attorneys, understood what needed to happen, "Pirate or Marine, it is our job to find the truth." Tashigi did not reply, but her crestfallen face told me that she understood the truth of my words.

"I…" The prosecutor sighed, "I just…" Tashigi did not say another word, for that moment, Sakura burst into the room. She was wearing her normal outfit… but she had added a rather large cloak, which made her look slightly more regal, but didn't define her curves that much. Her eyes flared up as she practically slammed into the podium with her body, her anger adding to the force of the assault. I felt sorry for the poor thing, after being shined up by Thera a few days ago, too!

"So," The Mary Sue hissed, "You brought me up here again. How many times do I have to tell you? I saw Zoro-kun pick up that damned Katana! That's all I saw!"

"I don't even have to cross-examine that to know you're lying, Sakura Tenshi!" I shouted, pointing dramatically at her. Now that she was before me again, this was no time to get weak knees, I had her in my grasp! The trap was set. She was mine, "TAKE THAT! This photo shows someone who looks suspiciously like the defendant!"

"And you dragged me all the way over here for THAT?" The Mary Sue growled, "Perhaps you should get your brain checked, you little…"

"I said it looked 'suspiciously' like the defendant," I elaborated, tapping the photo with a grin on my face, "In truth, I know it to be someone much different than the captain!" I pointed at the gash upon the person in the photo, "This shows that it can't be Luffy. He was not hurt at all that day. Someone else was in this photo, and I say, Sakura Tenshi, that it was YOU!"

"You fool," Sakura said, "You can't say that. You simply can't just SAY that it was me. You say I was hurt while killing that woman? I say I was hurt apprehending the innocent Zoro-kun. Unless you can show these courts some evidence that supports your moronic claim, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave and go back to my filthy cell, do you hear me, you little…"

This was it. I knew exactly what to do, but feeling it all come down to the wire made me feel a lot more pressure than ever before during this trial. As she shouted obscene names at me (mostly involving what I could do with my spiky hair, which made some of the more innocent members of the audience blush bright red), I pulled out the item that would convict her, the decisive evidence that proved Sakura's guilt! "I'd prefer if you wash your tongue after this, Witness," I replied, "Of course, I have evidence. No lawyer worth his salt would ever make a claim without it! Here it is: the evidence that proves you were the one in that photo!" The entire audience stared at the black rat I held in my hand (I mean, wig, yeah), "I found this in your room, along with a red monkey vest and frayed pants!"

There was silence through the entire courtroom as this information sunk into the peoples' minds, "Uh…" The Judge said in my direction, "All you did was prove that the witness is a cross dresser…"

("Your Honor, get a clue!" I cried to myself, "Besides, females and males can wear stuff like that without prejudice, anyway!") "Your Honor, what do you think I would resemble if I were to apply this wig?"

"Uh…" The Judge seemed to be thinking hard about this, which made me sigh unhappily, "Would you mind putting it on? So I can see?"

"No way!" I cried, sweating, "It'd ruin my hair style! I spend a lot of time to get my hair this spiky!"

"It's as black a charcoal, and looks like a rat nested in it…" Tashigi pointed out (quite literally, as she was pointing with an air of disgust at the wig), "If the defense, or me, for that matter, were to wear it, no doubt we'd resemble the defendant in some way."

"Your Honor!" I slammed my hands on the desk, "You must understand from here that Sakura Tenshi dressed up with the desire to frame Luffy for the murder! In other words, this murder was PLANNED!"

Sakura glared daggers at me, "You actually believe you can beat me? You are a mere human, a MangaLandian Earthling. You have no powers, no abilities. You think you can defeat perfection with nothing but your mind? If you continue this…" She licked her lips like a cat who had found a delectable mouse, "I will bury you…" Now was not the time to show weakness. My knees shook even as I met her gaze and returned it.

"You say I killed Imra Bid, with the desire to frame Luffy?" She hissed, drumming her fingers on the podium with a glare, "Why? Why would I do it? You haven't given a motive. If you can't tell everyone else WHY I wanted to…" She smirked a smile so evil it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, "Then you have no case…"

"Mr. Wright, if you didn't even bring this into account…" Tashigi said, adjusting her glasses, "Then… I will have to berate myself for believing in a moron…"

"Come on!" I cried, sweating all over, "Doesn't anyone give me credit anymore?" I pulled out the file, and stared it over, "I'll have to thank Luffy's… my… our navigator again for collecting this. This… is my FINAL, decisive evidence! TAKE THAT!"

"It's… a file…" The Judge blinked at the file as she read off the title, "A club… for ZoroxLuffy supporters?"

"You may look at the two circled names, Your Honor. Do they seem familiar?" I asked. The Judge looked at one name, the one that Nami circled, and the other, that I had hastily circled with my pen.

"DigitalDreamer, and Imra Bid…" The Judge blinked at the names, "Are they related in any way?"

"Indeed not," Tashigi replied, "They have never met before, if I'm right. So then, Mr. Wright, what does this have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with this case. This one file has cracked the case wide open. You just… have to think… outside of the box to see it." Tashigi's eyebrow rose at this information, and I smiled, "Sakura… killed the victim because in her mind, she thought of the Fangirl as a replacement for her creator, DigitalDreamer."

Sakura hadn't spoken at all during this time. Indeed, she didn't seem like she was in the mood to speak. She was sweating all over, shivering from the cold sweat as it dribbled down her face, "Let me start from the beginning," I continued, so everyone would be on the same page as me, "all the way to Sakura's creation. DigitalDreamer, this… Fangirl, created Sakura Tenshi as a parody, not even giving her a goal, a purpose in life. She just made the Mary Sue to love Zoro. However, Sakura was immediately abandoned by her creator. DigitalDreamer never wanted Sakura to love Zoro… she wanted Luffy to love the swordsman instead."

I pointed towards the softly moaning Mary Sue dramatically, "You HATED DigitalDreamer for this reason, Sakura! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason you were exiled across the worlds was because of an assassination attempt. Am I right, Sakura?"

"Stop… Stop…" Sakura moaned, digging her fingers into the podium, "I… you can't continue this… Stoooooop…"

"And then… the victim appeared. Not only was she stalking the swordsman you believed should be in love with you, but she wanted the same thing DigitalDreamer wanted. She wanted Zoro and Luffy to fall in love with each other… Blinded by rage, you could not see a difference between the victim or DigitalDreamer! You wanted her dead, in any way…"

"You dressed as Luffy, and attacked the victim in an alleyway. She fought back, slamming the cardboard box of gloves at you. You grabbed it and the box ripped, sending gloves everywhere! Applying one of the gloves, you reached for the katana, but she was quicker. She drew the blade and drew some of your blood."

"Lies…! You're lying!" Sakura screamed grabbing her ears and shaking her head, in an attempt to shut out my voice, "Shutupshutupshutup!"

"You overpowered the victim and wrenched the sword from her hands and drove it into her heart!" I shouted, slamming my hands down on the desk, the camera panning to close up on my face., "You killed Imra Bid, only because you wished, so hard in your mind, that she instead was the woman who created you, DigitalDreamer, instead!"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURG!" Everyone jumped when Sakura slammed her head into the podium with such force that it shook, but it didn't stop there. She slammed her head into the podium again and again and again. When she finally pulled her head back, there was a bit of blood trickling down from the place she had hit her head. She was sweating profusely, and her eyes had drawn back so all anyone could see was the whites of her eyes. She was pale all over, and she looked like she was among the undead. With what the Fangirl Order was already planning for Luffy had HE been found guilty, she might as well be a member of the walking dead. Dead before death…

There was silence as everyone stared at the Mary Sue, who had a sliver of drool running down her mouth. No one moved as she twitched, but just as the Judge was about to speak, her eyes veered back to their original position, and I felt a chill run up my spine when the eyes turned to look at me, and her mouth turned upward… she was smiling, "Ha… haha.. hahahahahahahahahahaaaaa! You… you… you almost… did it…" She giggled maniacally, "You almost won… you filthy piece of manure… you… almost won…"

She gave a cackle, lifting her head to the ceiling and cackling aloud, "But you can't prove it! You can't prove why! WHY?"

"Why WHAT?" I shouted, blinking. Through her actions, she pretty much accepted that everything I said was true. NOW what was I supposed to prove?

She looked back at me, her wild smile still plastered on her face, "Why I would frame that piece of crap…" Sakura said, beginning to regain her composure. No matter how beautiful she looked now… I would always remember the way she looked that time, and shudder… "I hate DigitalDreamer, remember? Shouldn't I be framing her instead? Why would I ever want to frame him? You can't prove that, can you?"

I placed my hands on my hips, "Actually, I…" Silence. My mind was a complete blank. I gave a hoarse cry and began to sweat, "Actually… I can't think of a thing!"

"You lose, you monster… you filthy lawyer, and I win…" Sakura laughed aloud, "and that stupid moronic un-hot crappy excuse for a captain will forever be known as the first One Piecian pirate who killed a member of the Fangirl Order! I WIN!"

I gave a cry, and slammed my hands on my desk in frustration, ("Damn it!" I cried to myself, "I was so close! SO CLOSE! Mia… Mia… what would you do? If… if only… I had Maya here to call her spirit…")

"OBJECTION!" Tashigi shouted, and everyone turned to the prosecutor, who was pointing at Sakura with a glare, "It is you who lose, Sakura… Mr. Wright, I can't believe you're that stupid…" She shook her head, and crossed her arms, a smile appearing on her face, "I thought you said you had to think outside of the box!"

I blinked at the prosecutor. She looked… different, somehow… "Think… outside of… the box…?"

"Don't think 'why did she frame the defendant…'" Tashigi said, and suddenly, I felt my former boss', by good friend Mia's, presence upon the woman, "You have to think, 'why she would WANT to frame the defendant!'"

"Who do you think you ARE?" Sakura screeched at Tashigi, even whose smile reminded me of the deceased Mia, "You're the PROSECUTOR, you're supposed to get HIM," She pointed across the way, at Luffy, "Executed!"

"You're wrong, Sakura…" Tashigi murmured, even as I smiled with relief. She slammed her hand down on her desk, and the camera panned to close up on her face, "Marine or Pirate… it's an attorney's job to discover the truth!" Who would have thought that I would see the presence of Mia in the body of the prosecution! I had to take this chance and run with it. I had an idea now… but without Maya there to stop me if I screwed up… I could ruin the chance that Mia and Tashigi gave me! Everything came down to this; I'd better not screw it up!

I slammed my hands down on the desk, "Your Honor, the defense knows why Sakura Tenshi framed Monkey D. Luffy when she killed Imra Bid!"

"Oh?" The Judge seemed to be waking up around now, "Am I able to speak now? Oh, no, I see not, oh well, carry on, carry on." I began to sweat. Poor Judge, she was so totally out of the case right now… must be sad to not be able to do anything during the trial you were presiding over!

"Sakura, you framed the defendant because of one simple thing," She looked away, sweat once again beading over her forehead, "You had competition…"

"COMPETITION?" Sakura screeched. The audience murmured and she continued even as the Judge happily slammed her gavel down to shut them up (hey, at least it was SOMETHING she could do), "You can't say that! How do you compete for love between two people who aren't in love? It doesn't make any sense!"

I pointed at Sakura dramatically, "Oh, but to you, it does! Think back," I tapped the file of ZoroxLuffy supporters, "DigitalDreamer loves the fanpairing, you see, so when she created you, it was ingrained into your brain that if Zoro was going to get together with anyone, it would be with his captain. Luffy was your one and only competition, so you had to get rid of him somehow. It was simple… you were going to frame him, and…" I shuddered, remembering that case so long ago ("Chii-chan…"), "Kill him with the law."

I continued, even as Sakura writhed on the stand, "You dressed up as Luffy, hoping that he would be found guilty, that he would be executed. Then, to you, it'd be simple to worm your way into the ranks of the Straw Hat Pirates. It'd be easy for you to get Zoro to fall in love with you."

"I… never…" She hissed, "worm… my way… anywhere…"

"But you see, even if your plan DID work," I said, putting my hands on my hips, a smile on my face, "You'd be forgetting 'Fanpairing 101'." I smiled a bit from Cody's teachings a year ago. Who would have thought that it'd come in handy someday? "As long as someone THINKS they could be together, there will be a fanpairing. Not only would you have Luffy as competition, but you'd have Nami, Robin, even Sanji as competition!" (I realized later that Sanji should have been FIRST on the list, but I got my message across either way…) I slammed my hands on my desk, and the camera panned to close up on my face, "You lose, Sakura Tenshi! For killing the victim, Imra Bid!"

"No… no… NOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRFUUUUU!" Sakura grabbed at her head, clutching her ears so hard that blood began to run down her hands, and she dropped down so she could curl into a ball. She continued her guttural growl, and I began to sweat when she changed her tune. The fetal ball that was once Sakura began to heave: not with sobs, but with laughter, "Fuuuuuuuuufufufufufufufu…" She giggled, "Fuuuuuuuuufufufufufufufu…" The Mary Sue's beautiful hand reached up to grab at the podium, and she dragged herself up so everyone could see her. Her wild eyes were large and her smile was crooked and sinister, "Hahahaha… It… seems… I lost…"

"Give it up, Sakura Tenshi…" I said, closing my eyes, "It's enough. You lost…"

"Oh… I gave THAT up a little while ago," She said, giggling maniacally, "But… you see, you stupid lawyer…" She gave me a smile that made me take a step back and Luffy leap up. She unpinned the cloak and threw it aside, making everyone gasp at what was attached to her hip, "You lose TOO!"

"A Katana!" The Judge shouted, "Bailiff, didn't you search her?"

"Doesn't matter now!" Sakura cackled with delight as she grabbed at the hilt of the sword, "You and your precious 'Truth Detective'-ness… You're DEAD either way!"

"Nick, watch out!" Luffy shouted, preparing to do battle with the Mary Sue. I blinked at the captain and thought fast. Not even Zoro, with his swords, could beat Sakura! Luffy never could have… I grabbed at the young man's wrist and dragged him back, behind me.

"No…" I whispered behind me, even as the captain blinked at me with wide eyes, as if to say "why?" "You… you're just as susceptible to swords as I am… How can the Straw Hat Pirates be pirates without you as their captain…?"

Luffy's eyes widened as much as they could, and I turned to see Sakura leap up on her podium. I closed my eyes, my hand still wrapped around Luffy's thin wrist. I wouldn't let him go… I wouldn't let him die for me… I thought about how I would have to show the others that I wasn't useless… I could protect those who I cared for…

"Maya…" I whispered, remembering my young partner, and the times we had together… The time we fought over the presents at Christmas, another time when I yelled at her for eating the steak I was saving in the freezer for a special occasion… the time she was able to force the wig that Jack Hammer once wore in the movie "Samura Boogie Woogie" on my head… and the time she had gone home… to continue her training… to be a full fledged Spirit Medium… I waited for her all this time to return… and now I would never see her again… ("Maya… I'm sorry," I said my regrets; I engraved them on my heart as I felt the last few seconds of my life ticking away, "I wanted to see you grow up… I wanted to see you summon spirits like your mother… I wanted to see you summon Mia again… I wanted to be there for you when you completed your training! Maya…") I could feel the whoosh of air as Sakura leapt off the podium, rocketing towards me. I heard Luffy scream my name. I shut my eyes tight; I didn't even notice the tear that was running down my cheek, "Maya… please, FORGIVE ME!"

_KLANG!_ There was a sound… so unfamiliar to my ears… It was the sound of steel… on steel… I looked up, and I smiled weakly when I saw Tashigi, standing on my desk, holding Sakura back with her own Katana. A… a swordswoman to the very end… "You… moron…" She flashed a light smile, "You… really… need to learn how to fend for yourself… here in MangaLand…"

"Shut UP!" The Mary Sue screamed. Her power was too much for Tashigi, and she slammed the Marine away. Tashigi fell from the desk, but Luffy and I were able to catch her. She smiled at me, as if to say "thanks", but when she got a look at her OTHER rescuer, she pulled herself away with a grunt. Sakura Tenshi held her Katana high, and she laughed aloud, "You foolish morons! You're DEAAAAAAURG!" She gave a scream when the Fangirls in the audience leapt on her, practically smothering the Mary Sue. They didn't have the time to stop her first attack… but now that Tashigi halted that one, they had the time to tie her up. The Judge was slamming her gavel down, but only because she was shouting to the other Fangirls to drag her away.

I looked to the side, and saw as the other members of the Straw Hat Pirates dropped down to meet with Luffy. Tashigi looked at all the pirates, and, in a huff, hopped back over my desk to walk back to her side. It was hard, being friends with both a Marine and Pirates… I turned back to the others, and smiled at them… and Sanji gave me a sound whack to the head, "You MORON! You nearly got yourself killed!"

"Do you know what Luffy would do if you died?" Usopp shouted.

"Yeah! Luffy would do if you died!" Chopper repeated with a glare. I was berated quite harshly by everyone (aside from Robin), and it made me wish I had gone with Tashigi… Oh yeah, don't thank me for stopping Luffy from getting himself killed!

"Ahhh, I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" The Straw Hat Pirates (including me, of course), looked up to see a lone Fangirl, the one woman who was not assisting the mob. She smiled at me, and I felt something… strange… when I looked at her, like this woman… was the one that started this whole mess, "I just… came to say… congratulations…"

I smiled a bit at her, and she looked like she was in deep thought, "You know… my friend was right about you…" I blinked, and she turned to follow the mob of women, "You certainly are something else… anyway, if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go find a suitable punishment for Sakura. No way does she kill a Nakama of mine and gets away with it." I chuckled a bit as she walked from the room, and I let out a small sigh when I realized… it was all over…

"Monkey D. Luffy, please," The Judge motioned towards the podium, "Take the stand." Luffy nodded, and his crew parted to let him take the stand that had been attacked so hard when Sakura stood there, and the Judge looked down at the pirate, and the captain looked up at the Judge. She smiled happily, and nodded, "You were innocent from the start. I have to hand it to Mr. Wright… he's a great defense attorney…" I blushed a bit. I wasn't THAT good, was I? "I never would have expected him to pull something like this out… it… was almost… miraculous… I'd say… thanks to him are in order, I believe."

"I know!" Luffy said, his smile brightening his face.

"Well then, I guess this is it. This court finds the defendant, Monkey D. Luffy…

"Not Guilty!" The gavel was brought down, and the Straw Hat Pirates rushed to Luffy's side, with congratulatory cheers, and I smiled at the young captain as he laughed with his friends. There was one last person in the audience, Gumshoe, who was clapping and cheering along with the pirates, and I looked across the way, to see Tashigi, packing up her supplies. I sighed a bit. She helped me get the real killer caught, and now she was to return to her boss empty handed… I slipped away from the cheering crowd, following after Tashigi right when the Judge nodded, "That is all; court is adjourned."

---

**January 22, 4:21  
Fangirl Order Headquarters  
Defendant Lobby No. 2**

"Tashigi!" I called, "Wait!" The prosecutor… no… the Marine, turned when I finally caught up to her, and she smiled at me as I propped myself on my knees and started wheezing, "D… don't go yet…"

"You'd never make it on the sea, Mr. Wright," Tashigi said, chuckling at my position, "You definitely don't have the stamina for it…"

"I'm sorry." She stopped when I interrupted, and I regained my composure, looking her straight in the eye, "I'm sorry we were on opposite sides during court. You know… when I first fought you in there, on the first day, you reminded me of myself, actually, when I first started my defending people." Tashigi blinked at me, and I continued, "But now, today, I saw that it wasn't me that you were like… you were like… my old boss, Mia…"

"What does this have to do with anything?" Tashigi muttered, looking away, "why are you sorry?"

"I saw your justice… your idea of it… It reminded me of Mia as well… If I could…" I nodded a bit, "I would probably have joined the Marines…" She looked surprised at this statement, and suddenly, she smiled.

"I think you're a little too late for that, Mr. Wright. The next time Captain Smoker and I catch up to you and Monkey D. Luffy, you're going to be caught and executed as a pirate," Tashigi smiled, and I returned it, "So…" She extended her hand to shake mine, "Friends today…"

I took her hand in mine, "Enemies tomorrow."

"Niiiiiiick!" I released Tashigi's hand and turned around when I heard Luffy calling for me. The others were probably searching for me as we spoke. I turned back to tell her "goodbye"… but she was already gone. I sighed a bit, wishing I could have given her a proper goodbye, but I was, like usual, too slow. My thoughts were interrupted when Luffy crashed into me, making me cry out and fall to the floor. The other Straw Hat Pirates chuckled as I grumbled at my captain, "Nick! You did it! You're the greatest attorney in all of MangaLand!"

"I've gotta say, Phoenix…" Nami said, chuckling, "You are a great MangaLandian attorney…" I blinked a bit at what she said. MangaLandian attorney… so that's what I was…

"I say we celebrate Luffy's freedom!" Sanji offered, "We'll have a party before we leave the island!" The rest of the group cheered, and I smiled a bit, although in reality I was feeling downcast. After everything was said and done… I was going to have to leave… sooner than I really wanted to… As the crew talked amongst themselves, I suddenly heard the door open and someone rushed in, arms extended, "You did it, Pal!" Came the jolly shout.

"Gumshoe!" I said, smiling as I picked myself up off the floor, "Yeah, but… in reality… I wasn't sure I was going to pull through a lot of those times."

"I know, I was on the edge of my seat!" Nami said. Zoro grunted. He must have been worried about Luffy. If I hadn't got the captain free, I probably would have been skewered by his first mate!

"Hurray, Nick!" Chopper cried, throwing his arms in the air, "We'll celebrate tonight!"

"You aren't getting ready to leave…?" Gumshoe asked. Everyone turned towards him, and the detective looked at me, "You know… I'm leaving tomorrow. I got off a few days on request of the Fangirl Order, but I was away two days longer than I should… I guess I can kiss another raise goodbye this month." I sighed on account of the poor detective, and he smiled again, "Oh well! We're heading home now, right, Wright? Let's head back home!"

"Nick! You aren't leaving NOW, are you?" Luffy pleaded, "Can't… you stay with us just a little bit longer…?" I was torn… should I go home where Gumshoe and Maya both were…? Or stay with my crew…? Really, why stay with the Straw Hat Pirates? They wouldn't need a useless MangaLandian Earthling like me, anyway… I suddenly blinked, and I touched my mouth. Maya… had said that she was useless before she left to continue her Spirit Medium training… and I had gotten her to take back that statement. I suddenly smiled, and shook my head.

"Of course I'm not leaving… now, at least," I turned to the detective, giving him an apologetic smile, "I… think I should keep my vacation running for just a little bit longer…" Gumshoe blinked at me, even as I looked back at the pirates, "If… of course… they don't mind me tagging along for a little while longer…"

Luffy brightened up, and Chopper sniffled. Nami clapped her hands together and Usopp reached out to grab my hands, "Of COURSE we don't mind, right, everyone?"

Zoro gave a smile and walked off, followed by Robin, and Sanji laughed, "We're fine with it… of course…" Sanji walked off after the others, "You have kitchen duty today, cook's orders."

"W… WAIT!" I cried, releasing Usopp to rush after the cook, "I… I OBJECT! WAIIIIIIT!" The others laughed even as I hurried after Sanji…

…

**The End…?**

**---**

Remember, everyone! It's NOT the end! Keep watching! The extra will be brought up soon! I'm so excited... See you at the end!

Now that the entire trial is over... if you've read this far... then you must have loved SOMETHING! Review! Hurry! Now!


	10. Day ?: Easter Egg

Alright. This is it. The real end. Finally! I want to give one last shout out to everyone who believed in me, and who enjoyed this story so far. For everyone who hated this because it was a crossover, I nod my head solemnly. For everyone who hated this just because, I'll be sure to sic Franziska von Karma on you. I just hope your back doesn't get too raw from her whippings!

And now, without further ado, for the last time:

READ ON!

---

Phoenix Wright: MangaLandian Attorney  
Case File 1; Turnabout Pirates  
Day : Easter Egg

**June 16, 3:34  
Going Merry Go  
Galley**

It has been… a long while… since I "joined" the Straw Hat Pirates, becoming their honorary "Defense Attorney". It was a silly addition to such a great band of pirates. In fact, when encountering Marines, most assumed I HAD to be the doctor. After all, that mascot had to be something as silly as a defense attorney. On those days, after having to be rescued by the other members of the crew (even Nami and Robin had to double team a few times to prevent a few Marines from dragging me, kicking and screaming, to their cells), I would crawl down to the men's room, curl up into a ball in my hammock, and cry myself to sleep.

Sometimes, on these days, Usopp would lie to Chopper about me being sick with a rare disease, and Chopper would shove any pill he could think of down my throat. My friends back in my college always said I was a social animal… now sometimes I wished that I could just be left alone…

Of course, there were some days that made me feel a little more needed. One time, we all met with the Admiral, AoKiji (apparently it meant something like "Blue Pheasant", but what did I know?). When he decided he should take the entire crew out, I was able to hold him back for a moment, after bringing up the great things Luffy had done (ah, the wondrous powers of a lawyer!). Of course, it only held him back a few moments, for the next thing I realized, he was freezing Robin frozen solid! He was so strong; I assumed he probably could even defeat Sakura Tenshi! Of course, by this time, I was carrying the frozen Robin off with Chopper and Usopp.

We barely made our way out of that predicament (alright, so LUFFY barely made HIS way out of that predicament), and my suit was absolutely ruined with warm water from warming both Robin and Luffy up from the inside (Oh well, it only cost about the average amount that I had to pay for one month's worth of RENT, not like it mattered much).

Then… there was a time I had to defend a young man in the murder of his childhood friend (although I was, of course, in disguise, to avoid people from knowing that I was really a pirate), but that's another story. Many Fangirls said that my adventure was "needless filler", but I failed to see what it was filling in for. If there was anything I was proud of during my work as a Straw Hat Pirate, it was the hard work I did to help that poor young man! But, I allowed such rumors to be said behind my back. After all, what was I supposed to say…? It's not like I could stand up to the Fangirls and make them stop…

---

It was the day after meeting with that Kokoro lady and her granddaughter, Chimney. After seeing a train that ran over water, I was rather amazed! How life would have been different if people invented sea trains rather than airplanes… I was busy airing my over coat out (what else was I supposed to do, without any television or law books to read…?), when Nami suddenly shouted out that there was a storm coming on.

I had learned quickly beforehand that the weather on the Grand Line was fickle, and that it changed at a moment's notice. So it came as no surprise when the rain suddenly poured onto the Going Merry, ruining (once again) my suit. As the rest of the crew rushed around like ants, preparing to ride out the storm, I was grabbing my over coat off its hanger and retreated into the galley, mostly to get out of everyone's way. Tashigi was right… I wasn't fit for sailing…

As the ship tossed and turned, I found myself trying to hold onto my lunch. Every once in a while, Nami would shout at me to turn the ship, and since I had quickly learned which way was "starboard" and which was "port" in advance, I was finally able to find myself useful. I pushed my whole body into the smiling whipstaff, and Nami finally shouted that it was dying down. I settled down with a sigh, propping myself up against the whipstaff, and suddenly there was a shout of distress from outside.

I looked up quickly, just as Chopper rushed into the galley jumped into my arms for reinforcement. The poor reindeer needed his fur dried off soon, and I sighed when I decided it might as well be me, but before I could lift the reindeer up and carry him off to the bathroom to dry him off, he looked up in my direction, his eyes wide with terror, "Nick! Nick! There's a Fanboy outside! He brought this scary guy who's wearing a suit!"

"A suit…?" I blinked, and looked up expectantly. Could it be Edgeworth? Had he come back, finally? There was another shout and the galley door was practically kicked down. A man rushed in, trying desperately (and in vain) to wipe the water from the rain off of his suit, "Damn it!" He shouted angrily, "You said it was bright out! I didn't bring my umbrella! NOW look at my suit! It's RUINED, RUINED!"

"Um…" The Fanboy entered behind the man, rubbing the back of his head, "I'm sorry?"

"Do you know how much this cost, you little piece of…?" The man ripped his glasses from his face and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe them off, but stopped when he realized the handkerchief was just as wet. He gave another roar that made the doctor in my arms hug me closer, "It cost me more than $1,400! Let's see you try and pay THAT back, you snot!"

"Need a defense attorney?" I said jokingly to the Fanboy, who silently cried to himself.

"Hold it! Hold on!" Nami shouted as the other members of the crew started filing into the galley, one by one, "Who the hell are you, and why are you here?"

"He's got funny glasses!" Luffy said, poking the rectangular rims until the man dragged them back away from the captain's reach, "I want glasses now too!"

"No you don't, Luffy…" Zoro responded as the man in the ruined suit (who was not me) reapplied his glasses, the veins in his temple throbbing from anger.

"QUIET!" He shouted, making everyone shut up, which made me surprised, as even Zoro and Sanji seemed to stop bickering when he shouted. He pushed his still wet glasses up his nose and sighed, "Much better… Now, you may call me Tetsurou Kirisaki, I am… the owner of the Kirisaki medical establishment."

"So you're a doctor, then?" Sanji asked, lighting up a cigarette.

"My, you're smarter then I pegged you for," Kirisaki said, in a tone that said "obviously, you snot". It nearly made the cook charge. His glasses slid down his nose, and he pushed them back up with his middle finger, "Now, I have come here on urgent business. I have need of your defense attorney." Everyone turned to me, still hugging the fluffy reindeer. I looked at Chopper, who stared at me, and we pulled apart quickly.

"Ahem," I said, coughing into my hand and dragging myself into an upright position, "You… need me for some reason?"

"Of course," Kirisaki replied, "Do I really need to be here if I didn't? It's not like people usually go out of their way to look for pirates," He seemed to be disgusted by the thought, which made members of the crew get a little tense, "It's my surgery clinic. It was a year ago, do you remember?" He pulled out an article from the business case he was holding, and handed it to me.

"Oh yeah, I remember reading about this," I replied, "14 people died because of a medical malfunction. And… you need me to defend you because of this?"

"Listen when someone's telling a story, I'll get to that soon enough," Kirisaki growled, holding his hands up and tensely flexing his fingers, even as his glasses slid down his nose. After pushing them back up, he continued, "A few days later, the nurse responsible for the malfunction… died in a car crash. Many people thought I played a hand in her death."

"But it was a year ago!" Usopp cried, crossing his arms, "Why do you need a defense attorney for that NOW?"

"I SAID… listen… I'll get to that soon enough…" Kirisaki hissed, guttural enough that even Robin prepared to snap his spine in two, "I need your defense attorney… because of Lady Maya Fey…"

"Maya," I gasped, my eyes wide, "How do you know Maya's name?" I demanded. Surely, a man like him, so intent on his business wouldn't know someone like her without…

"I'm not FINISHED!" Kirisaki shouted, speeding his speech up so he could finish quickly and reduce the interruptions, "Because some people think I killed my nurse, no one's coming to the Kirisaki Hospital!" None of us needed to mention that with this guy's attitude, none of us would go there regardless of whether he murdered someone or not, "Therefore, I enlisted the aid of a Spirit Medium, Maya Fey. She's been pretty famous in recent days. I hear that you worked under her, actually."

I nodded a bit, "Yeah, we did work together, actua… HEY!" I shouted, "I worked under HER?"

"Ah, perhaps I heard her wrong?" Kirisaki said, looking (for once) caught off guard. I sighed a bit and rubbed my temple, smiling.

"No, no…" ("That sounds exactly like Maya…" I said, reminiscing our days together), "Uh, I mean, YES. We worked together, but she was MY partner!"

"She sounds so beautiful!" Sanji crooned, clasping his hands together as hearts sprang from his person, "I would love to meet a young blossom like her!" He gave a cry when Nami gave him a nudge in the gut to shut him up as the conversation continued.

"Hmm…" Kirisaki muttered, "Oh well, it matters not who worked under whom…" He pushed his glasses up his nose, as they were (once again) slipping, "I just need you to come back to Earth; it's a matter of grievous urgency.

"I had spoken to Lady Maya, asking her to channel the spirit of my deceased nurse, you see. If I could just get her to come back and tell me what was going on, then perhaps I could tell the world that I was innocent, and my reputation wouldn't be ruined!" Kirisaki looked rather smug by this point. According to him, this plan was utter genius, "I asked Lady Maya if she would do the honors. After all, she is the heir to the Fey Family. I wouldn't want some half brooded branch family doing something this delicate. Unfortunately… ("this is where you come in" he added quickly) she refused to do it. This will be her first summoning since her training has finished, and she is a little worried about the outcome. She promised to do it only if you came, Phoenix Wright."

"So that's why you need Nick!" Chopper proclaimed, clapping his hooves together as Kirisaki pushed his glasses up his nose again.

"But that's it…?" Luffy said, looking rather frustrated that some man would come in and FORCE the Straw Hat Pirates' defense attorney to come back with him, "You don't need him to defend you or anything? Nick is a defense attorney! That's what he's supposed to do is defend people! You're asking him to…"

"Luffy… please," I cut the captain's rantings off rather quickly. The captain blinked at me, and I nodded at Kirisaki, "I understand. You need me to inspire Maya to do her best, so you got yourself an attorney."

"Phoenix!" I turned. Everyone was staring at me, their eyes pleading, "We need you here! You… don't have to leave…"

"Come on, everyone…" I began, shrugging my shoulders, "Maya needs me now more than you guys ever will from here on out, and really…" I chuckled a bit as I looked away, smiling, "I… really want to see her as much as she does me. I've waited more than half a year to hear from her again, so I… think it's about time I…"

"You left…" Zoro said gruffly, his arms crossed, "I should have known you'd chicken out someday…"

"But Niiiick!" Chopper cried, looking terribly traumatized, "You can't just LEAVE! You… you're our Nakama…"

"What if you forget?" Nami asked, rubbing her arm insecurely as she continued, "What if you forget about us? You could say this was all a very realistic dream… and you could… refuse to accept our existence…" There was silence among the rest of the crew, and I could feel everyone's eyes fall on me. Sanji gave a look that said "You WOULD, too, you bastard", and Usopp tried to be a man and not cry about my fervor to leave.

I thought for a moment. What could I show them that would prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I wouldn't forget them? That I accepted that this was all real? I needed some evidence, and I had just the thing, "Don't worry, you guys, I'll never forget any of you! How could I, when I have this?" I unbuttoned my cuff button and pulled back my left sleeve, "TAKE THAT!"

Everyone blinked at the marking on my arm. It was a fading X, barely legible from the few showers that I had taken when I was with the crew (I was surprised when I had seen that the Going Merry had a bathroom!), "I can't forget you guys when I have this…"

"Ahhhh, it's the X…" Nami said. The only person who didn't seem fazed by this sign was Robin. That seemed to be acceptable, as I heard from Luffy that Robin wasn't around when this sign was invented by the captain, "You… won't forget us without this… I guess…?"

"How can I? I've become quite attached to it," I said, smiling, "I was thinking of drawing a new one here just yesterday, actually." Everyone peered at the X, and Zoro gave a "humph", looking away. Nami nodded, and everyone looked much happier.

"So, we're out of here, then?" The Fanboy asked cracking his fingers, "I'll have to concentrate a little more to get all three of us back, but I'm sure I'll manage somehow."

"Wait! You're not leaving yet, Nick!" Luffy said, smiling, "You still gotta get paid!" The rest of the crew gasped. Luffy actually remembered something THEY didn't?

"Awww…" Nami muttered, looking a little angry, "Can't we just say that he was able to get a nice cruise and we'll be even?" I sweat a bit at her question, and I scratched the back of my head. Aside from the fact that it wasn't a CRUISE (nearly getting frozen solid by a deranged member of the police wasn't much of a cruise, after all), I felt that it was nice to get some monetary gain for my services before I left for home. Rent was rent, after all.

"Come on, Nami!" Usopp said a little indignantly, "Just a little! We'll still have plenty for the Going Merry!" I looked at the marksman. He loved the ship so much, I felt glad that he was backing me up. I nodded a little, even as Nami sighed.

"Fine, Fine," She muttered, "Sanji-kun… go pick up his payment."

"Right away, Nami-san! Mellorine!" Sanji crowed, rushing off to go collect the money I had rightfully deserved a while ago. He returned, handing me a gold icon that seemed almost Incan in appearance, "Here you are, crappy attorney. You'd better not spend it all in one place…"

"I don't know about that…" I said, chuckling. This looked just enough to pay the rent that had piled up… "But I'll do my best."

"Be careful, Nick!"

"See you again, Nick!"

"Bye, Phoenix!"

"Be sure to come visit."

"And bring by that Maya lady when you do, alright?"

"Goodbye… Attorney-san…"

I suddenly felt a weird sensation, much like when I had come here in the first place. The Fanboy continued to chant, and I nodded at the crew, "I… I'll see you guys again!" I promised. This was the first time in a while that I became so attached to my client before, "Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!" came the reply, and there was a bright flash… I knew I was going to see them again, someday… but how much would they have changed… when I finally would decide to pay them a visit…? As I dropped carefully back into my office, I looked at Kirisaki and the Fanboy, who simply tipped his hat and disappeared again. I turned to look at Kirisaki, and the doctor smiled, "Well then, see you in a few days. I suggest you pack…"

He then turned and left my office, grumbling about his ruined suit. I looked around my office, and sighed. I placed the icon upon my desk, and grabbed my broom. I then started sweeping up the powder that was left when I had left… and even though I tried to think about what to take on my trip to Maya's hometown in the mountains; I couldn't seem to rid my mind of Luffy's smiling face…

**The End!**

**---**

Yes, my friends. This is truly The End of Turnabout Pirates. Don't worry though, everyone.

Keep watching, I'm making another Phoenix Wright trial which will most likely be titled "Turnabout Bourgeois".

Please be on the lookout for it! Oh yeah, and review. This is your LAST CHANCE OMG!

P.S. At my leisure, I will be going back over this story, and fixing minor inconsistancies. Thank you, once again, for everything.

Much Love:

Christy


End file.
